If you are interested in seeing how flowers in Portland Japanese Garden are faring this spring, you can refer back to this space, where we will make regular updates. Now is a wonderful time to come visit as the Garden’s flowers are complemented by our new exhibition, Gifts From Japan: A Horticultural Tale Told Through Botanical Art, open now through July 4.
Week of June 13
Azaleas and Rhododendrons
From Gifts From Japan: The practice of horticulture became popular in Japan in the early 1700s. During the Edo period, wild plants transitioned from mountain plants to ornamental landscape plants. According to Dr. Thomas R.H. Havens (Land of Plants in Motion: Japanese Botany and the World), rhododendrons were very popular and set off an “azalea boom” that captivated Japan for 50 years.
Other Garden Flora
Japanese Gardens Highlight Green Rather Than Flowers
Springtime in Portland Japanese Garden showcases the green we missed in winter, from the early days of April when we see moegi-iro (Japanese word for new leaf green) to the lush hues that accompany the approach of summer. All these many shades and textures of green shining in sunlight and bending in breeze remind one that the Garden is not an arrangement of static objects but rather an expertly maintained, living expression of nature.
Of course, the moss, leaves, ferns, and grass are complimented with pops of brightly colored flowers. Unlike Western gardens where flowers can dominate the field of vision, Japanese gardens very intentionally choose where blooms will be located and how they will intermingle with an otherwise green tableau.
Week of June 6
Rhododendrons & Azaleas
Wisteria
From Gifts From Japan: Wisteria is grown for its showy and scented flowers. Cultivars include plants with single and double flowers. A relative to W. floribunda is in the Guinness Book of World Records as being the largest blooming plant.