Color in the Garden

Peak Fall Color Approaching

Portland Japanese Garden — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:06:40 +0000

Many of the Garden’s laceleaf maples are now in vibrant full color—the height of the season is due in the following weeks:

Nicole Crayne

Mushrooms

Portland Japanese Garden — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 22:47:31 +0000

When mushroom hunting in the Garden, please look but don’t touch!

Nicole Crayne

Fall Color Is Here

Portland Japanese Garden — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 22:35:49 +0000

Adam McCormick

First Hints of Fall Color

Portland Japanese Garden — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:05:26 +0000

An unexpected splash of color at the overlook could make an autumn treat for visitors at this year’s Moonviewing.

Nearby, the mai kujaku, or “Dancing Peacock” maple.

Cedric Wiens

First Iris

Portland Japanese Garden — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:14:22 +0000

The Garden’s first Japanese irises bask in the warm weather:

Krys Roth

There are three main types of Japanese irises—kakitsubata, hana shobu, and wild ayame. Those planted at the Portland Japanese Garden are hana shobu 花菖蒲 (Iris ensata var. ensata), a larger, late-blooming flower preferring wet stream banks. This type is also cultivated at the famous iris beds of Meiji Shrine in Tokyo.

Krys Roth

Wisteria

Portland Japanese Garden — Sat, 31 May 2008 22:55:27 +0000

This year, the Wisteria sinensis sports a leaner, cleaner look due to a recent reconstruction of the Wisteria Arbor, or fuji dana 藤棚. Our gardeners judiciously pared back the heavy overgrowth before twining branches around a sturdier wooden lattice structure.

White Azalea Waterfall

Portland Japanese Garden — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:15:27 +0000

This bank of white azaleas was designed to evoke a mountain waterfall, cascading over boulders into the upper pond of the Strolling Pond Garden.

Cedric Wiens

Azaleas and More

Portland Japanese Garden — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:44:52 +0000

What a happy coincidence that the Garden’s prime flowering season arrives just in time for Mother’s Day! A visit to the Garden this week promises lingering magnolia and cherry blossoms, delicate pieris and enkianthus, budding dogwood, rhododendrons, and vibrant azaleas:

Many of the garden’s small-leaved azalea plants are pruned into neat, globular shapes. This technique—credited to the Zen Buddhist monks of medieval Japan—is called karikomi 刈り込み, also meaning, “haircut.”

Pink-leaved Maple

Portland Japanese Garden — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:26:03 +0000

Next to the rustic well in the outer Tea Garden, this maple glows pink in the spring sunshine:

Enkianthus

Portland Japanese Garden — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:16:13 +0000

The Japanese Enkianthus perulatus, with flowers hanging like miniature paper lanterns: