![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3sHjA16qXHZyvN3cyD8GVPfZ2U1lBWwNGP_40y4ftSFcwHovJCrB6pnG93xKvQxsgQwZjy3twYgEODeuoo8Nr_eNBmIMsEW4oYyWQ0QV2lAO2mZrkPrVkwn2zmChAm2dB-yvkAuk2hB4/s400/IMG_3712.JPG)
Val Easton is a freelance horticulture writer of many important books on NW gardening and contributed greatly to our local and national understanding of plants. I had the good fortune recently of dragging her along on a bonsai safari through Beacon Hill. In the photo above we are debating whether that shrub is in the shape of a duck or some other unidentifiable object.
I hope she had as much fun as I had and at the very least I think she got a good sampling of the funky shrubbery that Beacon Hill has to offer. She is working on a piece about Beacon Hill's unusual shrubbery for the Seattle Times Pacific Northwest Magazine that will be coming out in a few weeks so hopefully our neighborhood will get some well deserved recognition for our unconventional yards.