The Many Faces of Portland--Part I

Summer is definitely winding down, despite the blast of heat and humidity a week ago and again today.  Students are back into the routine of getting up early to board the school bus and spending the day in the classroom. It's safe once again to walk into a discount or big-box store where they have finally finished re-stocking their shelves after the onslaught of college students stocking up for a semester of dorm or apartment living.  Summer vacation is quickly becoming a faded memory.

My own mini-vacation to Oregon and the Portland Fling in July is still vivid in my mind, but the details are getting fuzzy.  Even though I semi-organized photos when I returned home, I look at some photos and can't remember, was this in the Ernst Garden or the Fuller garden?  Joy Creek Nursery or Cistus?  Before my memory gets any hazier, I want to share some of the highlights of this memorable trip and my apologies to our hosts for any mis-labeled captions.

Like any big city, Portland has many sides to its character, and the gardens we visited during the Fling represented the different faces it presents.

It is a Vibrant city:

Hydrangeas at either the Fuller or Ernst garden

What I will remember most about the gardens in Portland are the lush plants and huge blooms.  One of the local bloggers told me they have a saying that if a plant usually grows to 3 feet tall, it will grow to 6 feet in Portland.  After seeing so many gardens in Portland, I believe it!

Hydrangea at Cistus Nursery

Not only were hydrangeas covered in blooms, but those blooms were huge.

Bloom at Joy Creek Nursery--I wish I could get my hydrangeas to turn blue instead of pink.

And Blue!

Crocosmia at Cistus Nursery

Crocosmia has to be a signature plant of Oregon as I also saw them in many home gardens when my daughter and I visited some coastal towns in Oregon.  I've never seen any this big before.

Begonias in a container planting at the Fuller garden.

Look at the size of these begonias compared to my hand!

Portland also has its Serene and Tranquil side:

We visited one of my favorite places in the whole city on Day 2 of the Fling--the Portland Japanese Garden.

Despite the heat, shady areas, shimmering pools and waterfalls, and mossy stones helped to make us feel cool.

I've visited this garden on previous visits to Portland--you can learn more about it here, if you wish.

More Asian inspiration at the Lan Su Chinese Garden, one of our first stops on Day 1.

 

I had also visited this garden once before--more on the differences between a Japanese garden and a Chinese garden can be found in an earlier post here.

 

 

Serenity could be found in smaller spaces as well--here a scene from the Fuller garden.

 

The Playful side of Portland:

 

 

Orange Buddha at JJ De Sousa's garden

 

Entrance gate to JJ's garden--hmm, I wonder if she has trouble with rabbits:)

 

 

 Blogger Gerhard demonstrates the size of JJ's hostas.

 

I missed taking a photo of one of the best examples of playfulness--a scantily clad mannequin at Floramagoria.  Check out other Flingers' posts or the Facebook page for this one.

 

Portland is also a Colorful city:

 

Garden shed at Chickadee Gardens.

Koi at Japanese Garden

 

 Octopus? planter at JJ's--can you tell orange is her favorite color?

 

 

 

A colorful nook in the garden of artist Linda Ernst--

I love the way the art echoes the colors of the plants.

 

 

 Masses of blooms, foliage, and art create a beautiful display at Floramagoria.  

 

The Creative side of Portland:

 

 

Glass art in the garden of Joanne Fuller

 really stand out in all the green foliage.

 

 

Sculpture at the entrance to Westwind

 

A screen of metal spirals in either the Ernst or Fuller gardens serves as both trellis and eye-catching art.  I should explain these two gardeners were next door neighbors, and one garden led into the other, which is why I can't remember the exact location of couple of these photos.

 

 

Even the gravel path leading from the front to the back garden of Joanne Fuller held some interesting objets d'art. 

 

 

Next door, the creations of glass artist Linda Ernst blended in with the colorful blooms of the garden.

 

 

If you look closely, you'll see these glass blocks were made with leaf impressions.

 

 

At Floramagoria unusual pieces of garden art strategically placed here and there catch the eye amidst the interesting plant combinations.

 

I fell in love with Portland the first time I visited it five years ago, and I was thrilled to have the chance to visit it once again during this year's Fling.  Many thanks to our hard-working and super-organized hosts who gave us the opportunity to visit such a variety of gardens.  There are so many faces of Portland that I can't cover it all in one post, so stay tuned for Part II--which, at the rate I'm going, may not get posted for another month:)