The Elisabeth Carey Miller Botanical Garden was the private home and garden of Elisabeth and Pendleton Miller. The garden is known for its exceptional collection of fine trees and shrubs in addition to an expansive collection of woodland herbaceous perennials. The Millers purchased the five-acre piece of land north of the Seattle city limits on a bluff above Puget Sound in 1948. The site commands spectacular views of Puget Sound and the Olympic Peninsula, and offers unique microclimates for growing plants. There are over 4,000 taxa, or different kinds of plants, in the three acres of this uniquely landscaped garden.
Betty Miller was an avid gardener. Her garden was the refuge and basis for all her work in the community. She received many awards and medals for her advocacy of horticulture. Two of the more prestigious are the Liberty Hyde Bailey Medal, awarded to her in 1988, and the Natalie Peters Webster Medal from The Garden Club of America. She was a member of the elite Rare Plant Group of The Garden Club of America. She spearheaded the planting of the Lake Washington Ship Canal, the founding of the Elisabeth C. Miller Horticultural Library at the Center for Urban Horticulture (now part of the University of Washington Botanic Gardens), and assembled the plant list for Freeway Park in downtown Seattle. She was well respected for her generous contributions of time and money to the local horticulture community and the community at large.