Center for Urban Horticulture

The Center for Urban Horticulture is a 16-acre landscaped campus of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens, established in 1984 alongside the adjoining 74-acre Union Bay Natural Area, an ecological restoration laboratory where more than 200 bird species have been documented. Its buildings sit within display gardens and greenhouses used for horticultural research and education. At the center of the campus, Merrill Hall was the first certified "green building" on the UW Seattle campus and houses the Center's administrative offices, the Elisabeth C. Miller Library, and the Otis Douglas Hyde Herbarium. The Center rents both indoor and outdoor spaces for weddings, mitzvahs, memorials, conferences, and retreats, accommodating groups of 20 to 200 guests indoors and up to 350 outdoors. NHS Hall, the Center's main reception venue, can be divided into three sections and opens onto McVay Courtyard, while the adjoining glass-enclosed Merrill Commons serves as supplementary space for dining, breakout sessions, and dancing. Outdoors, couples and groups can gather among the trees of Goodfellow Grove or on the open Event Lawn, surrounded by the Center's gardens.