VISIT

What to Expect

Learning what to expect for your visit to the Garden will help enrich your experience, help protect our carefully tended Garden spaces, and help all visitors enjoy this enchanted space in harmony.

  • Stay on approved paths. Do not walk on moss or step into raked sand gardens.
  • Silence your cell phone and refrain from talking on it in the Garden.
  • No food or beverages, aside from water.
  • No smoking, including vaping.
  • No pets, only trained service animals.
  • Do not touch or attempt to feed the koi.
  • No paints, inks, or other staining pigments.
  • No portrait photography is allowed. 

Plan your day at the Garden

We encourage you to allow time to fully immerse yourself in the cultural experience. For inspiration for your visit, please enjoy the following video: “A Day at the Garden” 

For more resources to help guide your planning and for information on COVID-19 policies, please visit our Visitor FAQs.

Fall Foliage & Maintenance

To maintain our paths and garden spaces at the level of cleanliness and grooming expected by all our visitors, our gardeners perform necessary maintenance year-round. This includes the use of electric leaf blowers. With a heavier volume of wet and fallen leaves in autumn, we often need to supplement with the use of gas leaf blowers. As stewards of the natural environment and in compliance with the county, our aim is to gradually decrease the use of gas-powered gardening tools each year.

Photography Policies

We are honored that professionals and amateurs alike find inspiration at Portland Japanese Garden. To keep the Garden an accessible and enjoyable experience for all visitors, please be considerate when photographing the Garden by following these policies:

  • Please do not block garden views, pathways, or elements for extended periods.
  • Please do not disrupt the gardeners as they work.
  • The Garden does not allow portrait photography (e.g., engagement, wedding, graduation, or headshot photos).
  • There is a $10.00/person charge for using a tripod for anyone who is not a Garden Member.
  • Entities wishing to shoot still or video photography for commercial use must submit a Photography and Video Shoot Application.

As a non-profit organization, we ask everyone who wishes to use images they take of the Garden for commercial purposes to purchase a Photographer Membership.

For information about a Photographer Membership, please click here.