For garden-lovers like me, one of the pleasures of traveling to a new place is looking for botanical gardens to explore. Gardens like these allow me to sample the flavors of a new region and can really offer that "you're-not-in-Kansas-anymore" sensation. Since I don't anticipate seeing a lot of new places in the near future, I plan to spend time reviewing past visits to the many I've visited over the years. I've got hundreds and hundreds of images from plant-rich botanical gardens from a variety of diverse locales. The photos I post below are a minuscule representation of what I have collected.
There's a certain efficiency in visiting botanical gardens that I appreciate—kind of a one-stop-gawk of all that a region has to offer. And there's usually ample opportunity to learn something new during my visit. In most botanical gardens, the plants are labeled, assembled in thematic ways, and/or include interpretive displays to read and study.
Because I'm typically traveling with others, I often find myself with not as much time as I'd like for the exploration, so I take tons of photos, including the educational signs, so that I'm able to review them all later for added context.
Memories of Botanical Gardens I've Visited
VIDEO TOURS OF BOTANICAL GARDENS
Untermyer Garden Conservancy in Yonkers, New York
Bellevue Botanical Garden
Exploring close to home is a pleasure as well. We have some world-class gardens here in Portland, including the Japanese Garden, Lan Su Chinese Garden, Leach Botanical Garden, Hoyt Arboretum and others. Having these horticultural treasures nearby is a wonderful thing. They are one of the ways that I vicariously "grow" plants——I can watch them grow, evolve, and change through the years—no upkeep (from me) required. I appreciate seeing mature specimens of plants home gardeners can grow and I like being able to see plant compositions on a larger, grander scale than anything that I'll be able to do within the confines of my small city plot.
And now there's an effort underway to create a new public garden in our own backyard. The Portland Botanical Gardens is an exciting venture and I'm going to be talking to two of its founders at noon on January 19, 2021. The presentation is FREE but pre-registration is required. I hope you'll join us to learn more about the exciting project.
REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT
Attend this event to learn about the effort to establish the Portland Botanical Gardens.
