This will be more of a pictorial feast. I am not particularly knowledgeable about roses, although I have definitely planted many, and actually pruned more. But I just “smell the roses” like everyone else does when I come here. Enjoying them is why they are there.
(These can be enlarged by left clicking)
The smells alone were enough to ‘send’ you. This was definitely the best overall that I’ve ever seen the Garden, completely smothered in Rose blooms.
Anyway, just beautiful stuff – and fun to share.
It was really one of those perfect Pacific Northwest days – 70-76 degrees, no wind, fresh air like crazy, huge trees all around -
Just gorgeous for us all.
Annette took some pictures using a filter which she graciously sent me for my return home. They are throughout this post. It was a great time.
Forest miscreants!
These next ones were a small treat. A very delicately-shaded Wine Colored Rose – nothing too “out there”, but just gorgeous and gorgeously informal, too.
I may not know roses that well, but I know what I like.
The Portland Rose Garden is a treasure right about now.
I just returned to Portland from a ‘weekend by the sea’ and I must admit to an extremely comfortable laziness caused by a deep drink of serenity and human sharing while staying at this cute little cottage, 4 houses from the beach in Manzanita, Oregon. My brother Mike and his wife, Lisa, are finalizing a year of renting it as a workplace away from home and a general spot for their souls to expand while the urban rush of Portland continues its mad dash to seriousness, somewhere “back East”.
Let’s face it, a scene like the picture below would quiet anyone other than the character in the picture which follows this gorgeous beach shot. This particular picture comes complete with a movable Fog Bank which was nearing a little eclipse of our sunniness at the time -
(enlarge any pictures by clicking on them)
Try quieting this ball-chasing nightmare: 
He’s one smug ball-killer. His owners have fallen to secretly addressing the word “ball” in cryptic code a dog will never understand, citing the need to avoid a constant psychotic recurrance of a nuttiness only a “B – A – L – L” can cause. I time him out at somewhere near 2,000 miles per hour when in pursuit of the worthless enemy, the ball.
Manzanita carries an ambiance which is slow and thorough. Smiles are a regular sight on the small main drag, a street hosting an asymmetric amount of “cool places” compared to absolutely anywhere else, maybe on Earth. One can (and did) visit a candy store, strictly devoted to sweets, both commercial and store-made. Coffee shops, of course, dot the landscape at disturbing frequencies along with knick knack shops, real art work, a couple of wonderfully delicious and conscientious restaurants and the coup de grace – a fabulously eccentric grocery featuring a deli, great fruits and veggies, and aisles which could safely be called “one lane” or – better – Fat Man’s Misery. I especially liked the presentation of local seafood:
It’s fairly hard to get fresher than this.
Here’s an early Sunday morning look at the core of town from about 3 blocks up the street from the ocean. It eventually got quite crowded, actually, with this having been a huge coastal week for tourists in general, but this is a reasonable although skeletal glance at the city’s makeup.
Of especial note to my gardening friends, seemingly every business had a small garden or container display out front. Along with the actual yards and landscaping of the entire area, this town is one to whom experimentation and an appreciation of rather uncommon plant collections is rife and totally alluring. As an example, these small containers feature Black Petunia’s underneath the deepest Burgundy colored Poppies I have ever seen. This one needs to be enlarged to fully appreciate:
New Zealand Flax, long one of my favorite plants, adorn Manzanita as if some Flax sales dude peppered the place with bargains. A very sweet Mallow with its gorgeous yellow bloom back up the foreground of Salal, the local forest groundcover:
Poppies and Euphorbia accent the area, along with – at this time of the season – an absolute riot of Crocosmia, splashing a deep orange all over the town:
I really enjoyed the simplicity and depth this small tableau offered, featuring a Euphorbia of this real very simple beauty alongside a healthy Privet shrub:
Poppies everywhere:
Here’s a look at a well-tended garden featuring perennials and typical plantings, put together by a loving hand:
Finally, the journey would always complete itself at the water’s edge. Note the kites flying in the breeze in this picture and then realize at the bottom end of those kites is some dude/dudette on a surfboard, using the wind to take him/her for a ride:
A look around the beach at Manzanita:
The cliffs at the North End of Manzanita Beach (above) show what the Oregon Coastline is famous for – an ocean butting right up against mountains.
Below, the fog bank referred to at the beginning, still not quite blocking the sun. This is a South West view from one of the many dunes, some of which are 20 feet high also covered with this gorgeous beach grass which waves in the wind like a soft caress.
And here is a strictly Southern view, giving us 270 degrees of eye candy:
And finally, The Ocean itself – wild, huge and all consuming:
Pretty cool stuff.
I got a huge break in the timing of this event. At the time of my departure from Louisville, the temperature was an unbearably high-90′s phenomenon, complete with a humidity which drove the “feel’s like” temperature (an excellent and appropriate categorization, I must say) to an unlikable 110 degrees or so. Even breathing the air was hot on the lungs. The stillness of the air added a completely intolerable element, lol, particularly for those – such as myself – stupid enough to try working in it.
Ah, blessed Portland. Rapidly becoming an alternate Urban Universe and my definition of a very ideal habitat for countless reasons (which I aim to address at another time), the city still has some of the greatest-ever hanging baskets spread through town, hanging from lamp posts and the likes – always absurdly full and cascading down in these wild floral masterpieces.
(click any image to enlarge by one or two times)
Old Town, hard by 2nd Avenue and Burnside contains gorgeous 19th Century designs on those few buildings which survived the numerous floods, fires and various and sundry vicissitudes of early Portland.
This is the neighborhood bordering on – or composing – “The Pearl District”, Portland’s historic Chinatown, and it was my destination this beautiful, fresh early morning. This is where Portland’s now-famous Chinese Garden is located. The Garden has a very special meaning for me inasmuch as I figured somewhat in the installation of the irrigation system which feeds it all. I was also connected with overseeing some of the gathering of plant materials and liaising with the Union company which did all the foundation work and original excavations. I also spent ample time with the Chinese fella’s themselves who composed the 150 person workforce, sent directly over from Zou Chou for the construction. They did amazing work – much of which was fully fabricated by them in China prior to coming here.
Such as this stunning piece of woodwork which has always simply blown me away:
Which is all to say I went to a few fascinating seminars, worked on the job next to the contractors on every side of the construction and that I also shared my smokes with some pretty cool Chinese craftsmen. Big smokers, these guys.
So I had a chance to watch this edifice from the ground – up and I can assure you, it was totally fascinating. I don’t think I had a bad day. I recall watching the guys using these monstrous 2″ thick hemp ropes, suitable for circus workers, hauling around the very first basic products – chiseled granite – hand-formed into hard rectangles used as walkway borders, bridge spans and even railings as the picture below reveals. Granite was everywhere and formed to make an absolutely perfect fit where ever it was used. Absolutely everything one sees in this picture below the level of the buildings is granite, topsoil or water. Based on the fundamental solid concrete framing below all the posts and floorings, the entire edifice itself is from Chinese Granite – that is to say, everything visible.
Prior installations of Chinese Gardens by this particular group had taken place twice: In Sydney, Australia just prior to the Olympic Games held there and at the Museum Of Natural History in New York, New York. Since Portland had a Sister City relationship with Zou Chou, I believe it became a natural fit to use these absolute experts for the celebration and admiration of some of the very greatest Chinese contributions to architecture – and more specifically, to Landscape Architecture.
Man, it sure worked. Let’s view some random shots of this precious resource.
Below is a view available to pedestrians outside the garden via a few well-placed windows inside the containing network of walls, engineered to relish a little bit in its own right, and to excite visitors enough to check it out.
A sense of unlimited space and upcoming mystery is what these interesting openings are all about:
Even small windows are engineered to provide a big barrel’s worth of exceeding interest as we gaze at complexity and robust health – the ultimate Feng Shui.
Windows and doors perform vital functions as true “Gateways”, producing and solving mysteries as we sojourn through these artful passages -
Sweet views – magnificent surprises – gently surround us as we suddenly realize how rich a relatively small space can really be.
One third water, one third plants and landscaping and one third buildings of ineffable delicacy the entire place simply redounds with a passion of ultimate competence and plain great sense. Yes, things make sense in this Garden – of course all those small stones should be arranged this way – it’s what the Nature of Beauty is all about, isn’t it? Using natural elements in novel and beguiling ways?
These stone pathways massage a passer-by’s feet. They perform a literal function aside from just sitting there like me – all dressed up – pretty as heck – and no where to go. Truly, the functionality of garden paths in the lore of Chinese Garden Architecture is deeply embedded in the notion of providing pleasure sensually and not merely visually. It’s hard to imagine a deeper regard for the body in simple architectural terms.
They added fish, finally!!
Always a sure winner for me, these little guys ought to find themselves a bit bigger in due time. You have to appreciate their organizing impulses in this cute picture:
I’ll return for another post about this gorgeous place in a day or two. For now, I’ll close with just a couple shots from a larger perspective. The Willows are doing well!:
The “Mountain” looming over the enclosed water fall has filled in magnificently:
The Chinese Garden has most definitely improved with age. My respects are freely given to the stewards of this gorgeous place and certainly as well to those splendid early designers. Everything has gone a bit beyond perfect, marching right on into the Sublime.
