Shark Garden

The Shark Garden is a local gem in Burien, WA, where community, education, and nature converge. Established in 2015 as a school garden for New Start High School, the garden has grown into a 1.6-acre hub for learning, environmental stewardship, and cultural celebration. Today, it serves as a teaching and botanical garden where visitors can learn about native plants, organic gardening, and the many ways one can use plants for culinary and medicinal purposes. It hosts more than 40 free events annually, including cooking and gardening classes, which are open to the public and cater to all experience levels.

Need to Know:

Free Public Classes: The garden offers free classes in organic gardening, cooking, beekeeping and honey production, partnering with 20+ chefs, businesses and nonprofits to provide educational programming. Cooking classes take place in a solar-powered outdoor kitchen, and include classes focused on specific cultural cuisines.

Biodiverse Beauty: Explore more than a dozen botanical demonstration gardens featuring 100+ berry varieties, 50+ types of fruits, native plants, and pollinator-friendly flora.

Guided and Self-Guided Tours: Visitors can also take themselves on a self-guided tour enhanced by interpretive signs, including signage explaining how tribes have historically used the plants. The garden also partners with organizations like Tilth and Plant Amnesty to offer tours.

Sustainability in Action: Powered by an off-grid solar system, the garden embraces renewable energy, upcycled materials, and green technology for a minimal ecological footprint.

Art and Culture: Visitors will delight in garden art created by local artists and a mini art library. Public annual events such as the Burien Art Market create opportunities to see and buy local art. The Burien Solar Punk Festival is a vibrant one-day event celebrating green enterprises. It's a chance to meet other environmental enthusiasts while enjoying engaging activities like learning about green technologies, drinking harvested rainwater, and watching relevant films. Some even stay overnight to camp under the stars.

Community Impact: With 76 p-patch plots, the Shark Garden enables local families to grow their own food while supplying over 2,000 pounds of organic produce to the White Center Food Bank annually. Its gardeners are 90% families of color, and students in the Summer Gardening Program are 90-100% BIPOC.

The Vibe:
The Shark Garden has a welcoming, inclusive atmosphere where nature, art, and community spirit thrive. Families, students, and volunteers find inspiration among lush greenery, vibrant art, and the warm camaraderie of a shared purpose.