In early May, I visited the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden in Portland, Oregon.
The 9.5-acre garden contains more that 2,500 types of rhododendrons, azaleas, and companion plants. This site was donated by the Jackson family in 1950.
After paying admission, you’ll enter the garden over this beautiful bridge.
From the bridge, you’ll get a good view of part of Crystal Springs Lake. As you can see, visitors were wearing their raingear as the rain poured down around them on this spring day.
In the spring and summer months, visitors will see hundreds of plants in full bloom.
There’s about a mile of trails in this garden. This path takes you by a peaceful fountain.
The garden has layers of groundcovers, shrubs, and trees.
Some of the rhododendrons were taller than trees growing in my yard.
Others had interesting bark.
This trail was bordered with a wide variety of colorful blossoms.
There were many pretty varieties of azaleas, including this one with deep orange blossoms.
Here’s a close up of one of its blossom.
The landscaping along this path had groundcover plants like hostas and ferns.
Here’s a closer view of one of the hostas.
This azalea with yellow blossoms was one of my favorites.
I also liked this white rhododendron with pink highlights.
Visiting the Garden
If you plan to visit the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, you should know that parking is limited. You might want to use a rideshare service, as I did, or consider other options.
To show you the layout of this large garden, I’m including a Google satellite view. You can see the garden on the left side of the picture.
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What views that garden offers! Your photos are gorgeous. Thanks for the info about the gardens.
Thanks, Egidio! I’m glad I visited when so much was in bloom.
A lovely stroll through a magical garden – the best way to spend a spring day! Your garden reminded me very much of our own Magnolia Gardens Siobhan.
Thanks, Tina! It is a beautiful garden. However, I learned the hard way that a water resistant coat is not the same as a water proof coat on a rainy day. 😐
For some reason, I think the rain brings out the best of the best in flower gardens. The contrast in colors and less light is fabulous. But the Oregon green is always a nice accent too. Very nice!
Thanks, Donna! Yes, rain does change the lighting and mood. Note to self: Bring raingear next time! 😀
hahaha. We are wearing those shoes right now. We did bring rain coats on this trip, but figured Italy would promise sun so we left the pants at home. Oh, well. None of us has melted yet.
Beautiful, even in the rain!
Yes, it was! Thanks, Sarah!
What a beautiful garden, Siobhan! I could spend a lovely day there, just enjoying the surroundings.
Yes, it was a good place to spend a long time at. Thanks, John!
So beautiful Siobhan. Clearly a full day of walking and photography.
Thanks, Anne. Yes, it was the kind of place you could spend a long time at.
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