Japanese Garden, Portland I

My husband and I went for a mini-vacation to Portland, Oregon last week and, besides other things, visited the Japanese Garden there. I have to say that this was quite a memorable experience. We were very lucky with the weather that day, actually during our whole stay in Portland, and the light and the shadows were just so remarkable beautiful when we toured the garden.

It is said that the Japanese Garden in Portland is one of the most authentic outside of Japan. I don't know if that is true or not, but for sure this garden is of extraordinary beauty. My husband and I just felt instantly calm, peaceful and a strong connection to nature, in short, a sense of happiness. I think it is wonderful when a garden can affect a person that way and I am sure, we are not the only ones.

It was created by Professor Takuma Tono in 1963, who is obviously a master of this art, on 5.5 acres and contains five different gardens/garden styles: Strolling Pond Garden, Tea Garden, Natural Garden, Sand and Stone Garden, Flat Garden. To me this garden felt way bigger than it actually is, probably because it is surrounded by a typical Pacific Northwest forest, so you don't perceive where the designed Japanese Garden ends and the natural woods begins.

When we entered the Portland Japanese Garden this is one of the first scenes that we saw and I immediately knew that we were in for something very special. 

I turned back to the entrance gate and spotted this beautiful simple bell.

Also close to the entrance to the right and left side were two Fu Dogs watching over the garden.

I was surprised to find some azaleas still blooming so profusely at this time of the year. 

When I spotted this gardener hard at work, I assumed that she would pinch off spent azaleas blooms and was impressed that they paid so much attention to detail in this garden.

I asked, if I could take a picture of her and we started talking, and I was more than surprised to find out that she wasn't just pinching off spent blooms from the bush, but pinching off all flowers. That was of course a startling discovery, so she was quick to explain that this was a decision made by the "higher level" of the garden management. The reasoning behind it is, that azalea blooms are out of season by now and therefore didn't go with the authentic look that a Japanese Garden should have at this time of the year.

Anyway, I loved these mossy stones with the white sparse azalea blooms.

An especially beautiful pagoda.

I don't think that it is coincidence that the pagoda mimics the tall needle trees behind her.

This area is the Strolling Pond Garden.

I was fascinated by the moss hanging from the branches of this tree. So beautiful with the sunlight shining on it.

One of the many Japanese lanterns, scattered, or better said carefully placed throughout the garden.

Another gardener doing very detailed pruning on a shrub. I wonder how many people are working in this place.

Light dancing on this azalea bush.

A traditional Japanese Tea House, striking in its simplicity. Sorry for the bad photo quality, but I wasn't able take a better shot with the strong contrasts of bright and dark in this area and didn't want to skip showing you this beautiful traditional building.

Moon Bridge in the Strolling Pond Garden. 

The gardeners used what looked to me like traditional Japanese garden tools. They are beautiful by themselves.

One last look at the Strolling Pond Garden, which was one of the most harmonious areas in my perception.

Mossy lantern, so pretty!

There were many Japanese Maples in the garden. This one had very delicate leaves that were glowing in a bronze color in the sunlight.

Scene that seems to come right out of a Japanese fairy tale. 

The Zig Zag Bridge. 

The area around the Zig Zag Bridge was planted with one kind of a blue flowering iris. Unfortunately, the variety is unknown to me.

Close-up of the lovely iris blooms. 

In this area was a nice Koi pond, filled with many differently colored Koi. 

It was lovely to see the fish eating algae at the egdes of the Koi pond. They made slurping gurgling sounds by doing so, which somehow was entertaining and calming at the same time. I found the yellow golden Koi especially attractive.

I took many more photos of the Portland Japanese Garden, that I think are worth showing. So there will be a part II soon. Hope you come back to see more of this stunningly beautiful garden!

Christina

Teasing Iris

Multiple times I have complaint on this blog that bearded irises simply won't grow for me in my garden. Since I really love them, I always felt very disappointed about that.

I had five rhizomes of a white variety called 'Platinum', that were perishing in the front yard, saved from sure death by potting them up in plastic containers. They were sitting in my pot ghetto forever and weren't doing well in the containers either. So a few months ago I decided I will give bearded irises one last chance and planted two of those half-dead rhizomes in a different location in the 'White Garden Bed' in the back yard.

One was thriving almost from the get go, producing plenty of the lovely green-blue lance shaped leaves and presented me with one lovely flower stalk not too long ago, just reminding me how incredible beautiful bearded iris flowers are.




The one, which was flowering was planted in the background on the left side of the rose. The other one you can barely see on the right site of the rose, just planted a few feet away from the first, wasn't growing and wasn't dying. On closer inspection I found out that the soil surrounding that one was bone dry and the sprinkler were obviously not reaching it. At least this is a cause for not growing that I can understand and hopefully fix. So I fertilized the iris and water it deeply once or twice a week and see how it responds.




I think 'Platinum' is a particular beautiful, reblooming, tall, bearded iris variety. The color of the flower is a grey-ish white and it comes with a light yellow beard. The blooms look quite sophisticated in my eyes. The iris was bred by Byers and introduced 1994. Besides the unusual flower color it also has a great fragrance. For me this iris certainly is a show stopper!

I think that bearded iris are very nice plants when they are not in bloom as well. Their blue-ish green-ish lanced shaped leaves look stunning at any time. They make perfect companion plants for roses, but are nice partners for many other plants, too.

I am still not sure if I can grow bearded irises in my garden successfully in the long run. But after being able to enjoy these gorgeous blooms I am certainly motivated to give those beauties more time to find out if I somehow can make them feel at home here.




Wishing everyone a Happy Halloween!

See you in the garden!

Christina

The Garden at Ringmer Park, England - III

This is the final post about my visit of The Garden at Ringmer Park. There was more to discover in this wonderful garden than I have shown so far (click here to see post part I and here to come to post part II). The next highlight was a long double herbaceous border of mainly blue, lilac and purple flowering plants.

The photo above gives you a good idea about the color scheme used in this border. Unfortunately many things were just starting to flower, but you can imagine how beautiful it must be when the whole beds are in full bloom.


 

I don't know how long this border is, but it is probably the longest one that I have ever seen in a private garden. The very large trees surrounding the border are adding another wonderful tough and complete the picture. How great it is to be able to have a garden with many mature old trees!

I thought a wizard came up with the plant combinations in this part of the garden.

The pale blue irises were just lovely,...

...and so were the alliums, which are used extensively here.

And these two plants go so well together.

But there were also incorporated many other interesting plants like this extraordinarily beautiful aquilegia,...




...so monotony wouldn't become an issue.

I was so smitten with these irises.




This was quite a colorful beauty, too. Another plant that unfortunately I don't know the name of. It seemed to be almost common in England.

The stone columns at the end of this long border were very magnificent, in their classic elegance conquered by a wisteria, which just started to bloom. This plant was bursting with energy, you could almost feel it grow.

If I only had a few feet of this border in my own garden, I would be a happy person. 

By the way, I read in the info sheet written by the owner that was handed out to every visitor entering the property that in summer they work 120 hours weekly in this garden to keep it looking pristine. That gives you an idea how demanding and labor intensive the maintenance of a garden like this is. How great that people are willing to put that much time, effort and resources into their gardens, that something as beautiful as Ringmer Park can exist.

 

I am not a hundred percent sure anymore, but I believe that this photo shows the outer side of the long double border featured in the photos above. This garden was just so masterfully done in each an every way.

There is one last small corner of this extensive garden that I would like to show you. I think it illustrates perfectly that you can learn something from visiting a huge garden, take it home and make use of it in your most likely much smaller patch of land (at least mine is). What a refreshing bang of color you were confronted with here.

If you are not a fan of tulips so far, these ones may make you change your mind.

Although a little bit tattered already this one just stopped me in my tracks with its incredible play of colors. 

I was tired by now after touring and photographic the garden for approximately two and half hours, but this small bed got me all excited again,...

...and just let me hit the shutter button of the camera.

I guess this is the most extraordinary tulip that I have ever seen and I am so glad that we didn't skip this part of the estate. Still after taking in all the gardens my husband and I were more than ready for some refreshments. The tea and cake at this place was as delightful as the gardens themselves.

See you in the garden!

Christina