Any time of year is a good time to visit Portland Japanese Garden. Japanese gardens are created with imagination and designed to display nature’s beauty in all seasons. Spring is the time for fresh greenery and subtle blossoms. Cherry blossoms appear briefly in late March, while late spring flowers include azaleas, camellias, and wisteria. Summer’s sunlit shades of green yield an unbroken, calming visual experience. The vibrant colors of fall make autumn a popular visiting time. Autumn is a celebration of nature’s gift of life in the past year, and a transition to the peacefulness of winter.

Depending on your pace, it usually takes most visitors one and a half to two hours to tour Portland Japanese Garden. The Garden is also a place to linger, reflect, and meditate, so we encourage you to take your time and enjoy.

No pets are allowed, only ADA (or trained) Service Animals are permitted inside the Garden. Read more about our Service Animal policy. 

According to ADA standards, the whole of Portland Japanese Garden is not legally accessible. However, the new Cultural Village, the upper Flat Garden, and the Pavilion are legally accessible by ADA standards. A free shuttle bus from the Welcome Center to our Cultural Village operates during regular Garden hours.

Strollers can be folded up and taken up to the Garden on the shuttle. When you visit, please ask a staff member about where strollers can be stored in the Garden.

Find more information about accessibility, here. 

We do not have any wheelchairs or scooters available for guests. Find more information about accessibility, here. 

Tickets are non-refundable. To request a ticket exchange, click here. Tickets can only be exchanged up to 24 hours prior to the original date and time (no day-of exchanges).

The Rose Garden is a separate park run by Portland Parks & Recreation that doesn’t require admission. Portland Japanese Garden is an independently run not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The Garden’s operating budget comes from gate admissions, retail sales, membership dues, and donations.

We do not have reciprocal access with any other organization.

To protect the Garden’s tranquility, authenticity, and environment, we do not allow public rentals for events, weddings, commitment ceremonies, or receptions. We refer those interested in a garden setting to the Lan Su Chinese Garden.

To keep the Garden an accessible and enjoyable experience for all visitors, we ask everyone to please be considerate when photographing the Garden. There is a $10.00/person charge for using a tripod (for anyone not a Garden Member) because the Garden has a lot of narrow pathways and tripods can take up the space of a person when set up for photos.

Entities wishing to shoot still or video photography for commercial use must submit a Photography and Video Shoot Application.

Our Garden shuttle transports guests between the Welcome Center and the Cultural Village every 15 minutes during open hours. It is complimentary and is available to all our guests. Find information about accessibility, here. 

No. Portland Japanese Garden is a private, not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that leases its land from the City of Portland. The Garden works with Explore Washington Park, Portland Parks & Recreation and the Bureau of Development Services to ensure that community needs are taken into consideration in any operating decisions. The Garden’s operating budget comes from gate admissions, retail sales, membership dues, and donations.

There are nearly 60 public Japanese gardens in the United States. Most are connected to city park systems or botanical garden societies. By contrast, our independent, not-for-profit organization is devoted solely to Portland Japanese Garden and operates year-round through admissions, membership dues, and donations.

Portland Japanese Garden’s Board of Trustees hires a Chief Executive Officer to operate the Garden. The Chief Executive Officer is supported by department heads as well as administrative, retail, gardening, and operational staff. Currently the Garden has approximately 100 full time employees.

We provide two admission passes to twenty applicants each month, selected from requests received between the 1st and the 10th of the month. Please visit our Donation Request Form to learn more and to submit your application.

• All staff have been fully vaccinated as of June 18, 2021.
• Masks are optional.

Bloom times vary significantly based on weather. However, the list below is a good place to start. Follow us on social media for the most up-to-date photos of what’s in bloom.

WINTER
– Camellias: Winter through Spring (depending on variety)
– Dawn Viburnum: Mid- to Late-Winter
– Andromeda/Pieris: Late Winter through Early Spring

SPRING
– Cherry Trees: March through Mid-April
– Azaleas: April through May
– Magnolias: April
– Rhododendrons: Late April through May
– Wisteria: Mid-May

SUMMER
– Iris: Late June through Early July

FALL
– Fall Color: Late October through Early November

You must have visited on a day when it was not raining. As it rains, water comes off the roof and is funneled into a series of swales that have been made into The Entry Garden. Our Garden Curator, Sadafumi Uchiyama has beautifully designed The Entry Garden space to look like pockets of nature. We have a series of channels running down the hill that culminate into two major water retention tanks underneath the parking lot that our guests will never see. You will only see water running through the Entry Garden when it’s raining.

Japanese gardens are not about showcasing plant material in nature. Rather, all elements live in harmony. Flowers don’t compete with foliage. In the words of our Garden Curator, Sadafumi Uchiyama, “Foliage has a role throughout the year. It gives texture and color in different seasons. Flowers give us seasons, and they give us time. Each has a role. That is the idea of harmony.” During the summer months, we encourage you to visit our neighbor, the International Rose Test Garden, to view their beautiful array of roses.

In order to maintain our visitors’ experience, we intentionally have minimal signage and rely on our visitors’ restraint.

To prevent potential damage to the Garden, we do not allow pigmented inks or anything that could stain. The only exceptions to this rule are graphite pencils, charcoal, and sketchpads.

Portland Japanese Garden was built as a living classroom with eight different garden styles. We see our Garden as a holistic environment. Throughout the year we have ongoing programs and events that are intended to expand people’s understanding of Japanese arts and culture in the setting of the Garden.

Since most of the questions our staff receives are about Washington Park, we encourage you to visit Explore Washington Park’s website before planning your visit to see us.

The idea for the wall began with Garden Curator Sadafumi “Sada” Uchiyama. Due to the Garden’s position on top of the hill, it became clear early on that a retaining wall was needed to hold back the western slope. Instead of a more traditional retaining wall, Sada thought it would be an opportunity to feature yet another connection to Japanese heritage craftsmanship. The wall was built using traditional hand tools and techniques. Led by Suminori Awata, a 15th-generation master stonemason, it is the first of its kind to be built outside of Japan.

Visitors can find the Castle Wall at the west end of the Cultural Village.