Dr. Arthur R. Kruckeberg died in 2016 after living to the ripe old age of 96, but his legacy lives on in these Shoreline gardens, which he founded with his wife in 1958. The four-acre garden includes a nursery, and is open to the public Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.—and admission is always free.

This botanical garden, designed by the Olmsted Brothers in 1915, is only open to members ($40 or $50 per year for a basic membership) or through a private tour, which will run you $10 and includes a pass to come back and “wander.”

Bainbridge Island’s Bloedel Reserve is really a collection of 12 gardens spread out across 150 acres, from a moss garden to a Japanese garden to a rhododendron glen. They have a creative residency program, too.

Admission is $17 for adults, $12 for seniors and military, $10 for students, $6 for children five to 12, or free for children four and under.

Adjacent to the Woodland Park Zoo, this city-run garden is only one of a handful of Rose Test Gardens certified in the country—meaning it gets varieties of roses before they’re available to home gardeners. Admission is free.

University of Washington’s Botanic Garden program, along with the city, helps run the Arboretum—but is wholly in charge of Center of Urban Horticulture. 16 acres of landscaped grounds include multiple gardens, and admission is always free.

Located between Benson Hall and the Botany Greenhouse, this garden on the University of Washington campus has a very specific purpose: medicinal herbs. Two and a half acres include about a thousand plants, labeled with plaques for your edification. There’s no admission cost, but the hours aren’t posted—probably best to visit in the daylight, though.

Part of the Washington Park Arboretum, this 3.5-acre formal garden was constructed in 1960 under the supervision of landscape architect Juki Iida with a combination of Japanese plants and those native to the Pacific Northwest. Admission is free on first Thursdays of the month; normally, it costs $8 for full adult admission, $6 for Seattle residents, or $4 for youths, seniors, students, and people with disabilities.

Seattle University collaborated with members of Seattle’s Japanese community as a memorial to the 120,000 Japanese residents forcibly incarcerated during World War II—and in recognition that the site of the Seattle University campus was once a thriving Japanese community before internment. The garden was designed by Al Kubota, grandson of legendary Seattle gardener Fujitaro Kubota.

The Seattle University Fine Arts Department and groundskeepers collaborated on this very specific garden based on William Shakespeare’s botanical references in his plays, like chamomile, lavender, musk rose, and hemlock. Instead of wormwood, there’s the closely related tarragon—probably for the best.

Head over to the Eastside for a 53-acre garden that takes advantage of Bellevue’s local wetlands among forests and some cultivated gardens. The gardens are also home to a variety of classes, plant sales, and special events like art shows. Admission is free, and the garden is open daily from dawn to dusk.

This Sichuan-style garden on the northern edge of the of South Seattle College campus combines symbolic use of water, plants, architecture, and stone. While donations are welcome, admission is free. The kite festival in June is an especially good time to visit.

Fujitaro Kubota was a highly sought-after gardener and landscaper in the Northwest, and Kubota Garden, which uses Japanese gardening concepts to showcase Northwest plant life, was his personal garden. It was acquired by the city in 1987, and is now co-managed by the city and the Kubota Foundation. Admission is free.