"These walls stand for centuries."
The Seattle Japanese Garden uses that line to describe ishigaki, the traditional Japanese dry-stone walls laid without mortar. Suminori Awata comes from a 15-generation lineage of stonemasons who specialize in this kind of wall, built to hold castle foundations, temples, and gardens through earthquakes. His crew finished the garden's new wall on September 10. On September 14, the garden said goodbye to Awata and most of the Green Man Builders crew who built it with him.
The wall is finished, but the north end of the garden is still a work site. A few hundred yards away, across the Arboretum, the Foster Island stretch of the Waterfront Trail is also fenced for rebuilding. The two projects are run by different groups on different budgets. Both have the same goal: letting people who couldn't easily reach the water before get down to the shoreline. Until they're done, the waterside edges of Washington Park are mostly construction zones, and fall walks here happen somewhere else.
The north end of the pond is where the work is
The garden project costs $2.8 million and has two parts. One was replacing the old retaining wall. The other is a new accessible loop walkway around the north end of the central pond. The garden says this path will let wheelchair users and families with strollers reach the shoreline there for the first time. Project lead Kyle Schlagenhauf of Green Man Builders is now building that path with the rest of the crew.
The garden closed completely from June 22 to July 27. It reopened July 28 and plans to stay about 80% open through the end of its season on November 29. The closed 20% is the north end, where the wall and pathway work is happening. That's also where the Yamasaki Pine stands, and the garden features it on the project page. Construction noise is expected to affect visits. For a quieter walk, the garden suggests the southern part of the grounds.
The work is happening during the season because, according to the garden's FAQ, this kind of construction can only be done in summer. The garden also used the five-week closure to catch up on deferred maintenance on its walkways and the dobashi bridge. No published source says whether the accessible pathway will be done by November 29. The Arboretum Foundation lists construction as running June to November 2026. The viewing pavilion in the project rendering is still a future plan with no construction date.
Here's the practical information for the rest of the season, from the garden's hours page:
- October: Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
- November: Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Final entry: 45 minutes before closing
- Admission: $10 for adults. $6 for youth, seniors, students with ID, adaptive, and military visitors. Free for children 5 and under and adaptive assistants.
- Winter: closed December through February
That means a visit after work on a November weekday has to start by 3:15.
Foster Island is the same idea on a bigger scale
The Waterfront Trail's floating walkway across Union Bay has the same goal and a longer timeline. Seattle Parks and Recreation announced in May that Redside Construction would set up on site by June 2026 for Phase 1, which covers the Foster Island section. The work includes new overwater support piles, floats, walers, gangways, and railings meant to "improve trail accessibility and year-round use." Part of the trail is closed while it happens, and Phase 1 is expected to reopen in early 2027.
The project map labels the closure on Foster Island itself. The Marsh Island sections are Phase 2. Their design is underway, but the city says it's still looking for funding to renovate the whole trail and will do the work in phases as money allows.
No official update since then spells out which approaches are open. The most recent on-the-ground account is a hiker's trip report on Washington Trails Association, dated October 4. It describes fencing and a lock at the east end. The western gates were open, but the hiker still couldn't continue into the Arboretum and suspected those gates had simply been left unsecured. It's one person's observation, not a city notice. Still, it's the best current evidence, and it suggests the Montlake-to-Arboretum walk across the water isn't a reliable route this fall.
So the season moves onto the calendar
With both shorelines partly fenced, much of what's left this fall happens indoors, on inland paths, or on booked programs. The garden's Hatsumomiji maple season runs October 1 through 12. It includes a maple brochure and children's scavenger hunts. After that, the dates spread across the Japanese Garden's tea program and the Arboretum walks listed on the UW Botanic Gardens calendar.
| Date | Program | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, Oct 10 | Family Saturday origami, Tateuchi Community Room, Japanese Garden | 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Part of Hatsumomiji |
| Mon, Oct 12 | Listed end date of Hatsumomiji, though the garden's October hours run Tuesday through Sunday | See garden hours | Garden admission |
| Sat, Oct 17 | Forest Bathing, Arboretum | 10 to 11:30 a.m. | $25 first ticket, $15 each additional |
| Sat, Oct 17 | Tea Ceremony: Introduction to Chanoyu with Chaboshu | 1, 2, 3 p.m. | $15 per session |
| Sun, Oct 18 | Introduction to Chanoyu with Tankokai | 1, 2, 3 p.m. | $15 per session |
| Sat, Oct 24 | Arboretum Walking Tour | 10 to 11:30 a.m. | $20 first ticket, $15 each additional |
| Sat, Oct 24 | Landscape Architecture Walk: Washington Park Arboretum | 10 a.m. to noon | $30 |
| Sat and Sun, Oct 24 and 25 | Introduction to Chanoyu with Omotesenke-ryu | 1, 2, 3 p.m. | $15 per session |
| Sat, Nov 14 | Arboretum Walking Tour | 10 to 11:30 a.m. | $20 first ticket, $15 each additional |
| Sat, Nov 21 | Forest Bathing, Arboretum | 10 to 11:30 a.m. | $25 first ticket, $15 each additional |
| Sun, Nov 22 | Arboretum Lichens | 10 a.m. to noon | $45 |
| Sun, Nov 29 | Japanese Garden's last day of the season | 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. | Garden admission |
The 40-minute tea sessions showed as full on the city's ticketing system when we checked, so openings may come down to cancellations. The garden's calendar showed no events for November, which leaves the lichens class and the second forest-bathing session as the season's last scheduled programs before the garden closes.
For walks without a ticket, Graham Visitors Center is open Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Its outside-access restrooms are open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. UW notes that hours may change because of limited staffing.
These programs now run under a new name. In January, the Arboretum Foundation and UW Botanic Gardens announced they would combine operations as Seattle Botanic Gardens, managing the Arboretum, the Seattle Japanese Garden, and the Center for Urban Horticulture. That's why the wall's photo gallery is hosted on a Seattle Botanic Gardens address.
Coming back up to E Madison
A walk that leaves the Arboretum from its south end usually ends on E Madison Street. That stretch is changing this fall too.
PCC Community Markets says its 17th store opens at 2925 E. Madison St. on October 14, with an in-house sushi counter, an updated pizza program, and deli meals alongside groceries. Down the block at 2808 E Madison St., Sno Thai Cafe Madison serves Thai food along with Filipino breakfast and brunch. The Infatuation reviewed it in May as a new Madison Valley restaurant.
In the 2700 block, the commercial building where Essential Bakery used to be is still recovering from a fire on July 14. Capitol Hill Seattle Blog reported that the fire caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage and was later attributed to an electrical accident. Corner Delights, which took over the former bakery space, is listed as temporarily closed.
Farther south, outside the Arboretum, Seattle Parks has started installing three swing gates on Lake Washington Boulevard. They're expected to be done by fall 2026, ahead of the 2027 Bicycle Weekends. In early 2027, Phase 1 of the floating walkway is expected to reopen, and the Japanese Garden reopens after its winter closure, which runs December through February.
If the new wall has you thinking about the stonework, steps, or retaining walls at your own house, Matt and Stephanie at Stanford Group look at that kind of work with a builder's eye. They can tell you what's holding up, what needs attention soon, and what it would take to fix. Request a personalized market and renovation consultation.
