Federal Way Pressure Washing

Federal Way Tidbits

With a population of 97,044 residents in 2018, Federal Way gained the recognition as the fifth biggest city in King County. Not only that, Federal Way is also Washington’s 10th biggest city that occupies a total land area of 22.30 square miles. Because Federal Way is conveniently located within the Seattle metropolitan area, the city has quite a lot of commercial establishments and points of interests.

Prior to 2014, the city has been always the location of the Weyerhaeuser Company. Having almost 12.4 million acres of timberlands in the country and another 14.0 million acres of timberlands in Canada, it is safe to say that the Weyerhaeuser is the world’s biggest private owner of softwood timberland. This American timberland company shared a part of their land in Federal Way to the public to some extent by opening up two botanical gardens: the Rhododendron Species Foundation and Botanical Garden, and the Pacific Bonsai Museum. Both of these tourist attraction are open to the public.

The Rhododendron Species Foundation and Botanical Garden, situated at 2525 South 336th Street, is a botanical garden in Federal Way that focus more on showcasing the rhododendrons, a woody plant usually common in Asia. The garden started in 1964 as a way to grow the American Rhododendron Society’s extensive collection of numerous rhododendron species.

By 2006, the RSFBG focused on the research, acquisition, cultivation, and public display of the rhododendron species. In 2010, the RSFBG added the Rutherford Conservatory, which is a 5,000 sq. ft. greenhouse. Like the gardens in the area, the conservatory is also open to the public, and it contains the tropical rhododendrons or commonly called the vireyas. There are around 319 species of this type of rhododendrons, which are only found in countries like Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Now, the vast botanical garden has more than 10,000 rhododendrons. Additional attractions found within the Rhododendron Species Foundation and Botanical Garden are Alpine Rockery Garden, Victorian Stumpery, Pond Garden, and Himalayan Blue Poppy Meadow. There is even a Garden Gift Shop and Nursery if you plan to take home some seedlings and other souvenirs.

Aside from rhododendron garden, there’s also the Pacific Bonsai Museum. Through a walking tour, the public gets to commune with nature, and they can enjoy the bonsai in different art forms. The museum features a unique collection of bonsai from countries such as China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and many others. Most importantly, this bonsai section is free and open for everyone to see.

Since the Weyerhaeuser Company moved its headquarters to Seattle, Washington, The Federal Way city officials have been looking into the possibility of promoting the city as a community college. Other attractions within Federal Way include The Weyerhaeuser King County Aquatic Center, Celebration Park, Dash Point State Park, and many more. The aquatic center has an Olympic-size swimming pool, and it has been the venue of sporting events such as the 1990 Goodwill Games and the 2012 US Olympic.

According to the city’s annual financial report in 2017, Federal Way’s top three employers are: Federal Way Public Schools, St. Francis Hospital, and World Vision Inc. Today, the city remains to be the US base of World Vision International.