Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden
After roses, rhododendrons are Portland’s favorite flowering shrub. They grow easily in the damp, temperate climate. But forest-loving rhodies are native in Oregon only on a portion of Mount Hood and in the Siskiyou Mountains in southwestern Oregon. Portlanders never saw a rhododendron until some examples arrived from a nursery in England and were exhibited at the Lewis and Clark Exhibition in 1905. Now rhodies are ubiquitous and available in every color and leaf shape imaginable. But all the collecting and hybridizing didn’t really begin until 1950, when the first-ever chapter of the American Rhododendron Society was formed in Portland and bought this 7-acre site across from Reed College in Eastmoreland as a garden devoted to rhodies. Lovely year-round, Crystal Springs turns spectacular from April through June, when 600 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas burst into bloom. From the gatehouse, visitors cross a bridge overlooking a small waterfall and rushing stream and follow paths through the enormous collection of rhodies to Crystal Springs Lake, created in 1917 by damming 13 area springs. Congregated near the shoreline and bobbing on the water are coots, widgeons, scaups, wood ducks, mallards, and Canada geese. Paddison Fountain shoots a geyser of water into the lake’s South Lagoon. A famous rhododendron show and plant sale is held here on Mother’s Day weekend.
After roses, rhododendrons are Portland’s favorite flowering shrub. They grow easily in the damp, temperate climate. But forest-loving rhodies are native in Oregon only on a portion of Mount Hood and in the Siskiyou Mountains in southwestern Oregon. Portlanders never saw a rhododendron until some examples arrived from a nursery in England and were exhibited at the Lewis and Clark Exhibition in 1905. Now rhodies are ubiquitous and available in every color and leaf shape imaginable. But all the collecting and hybridizing didn’t really begin until 1950, when the first-ever chapter of the American Rhododendron Society was formed in Portland and bought this 7-acre site across from Reed College in Eastmoreland as a garden devoted to rhodies. Lovely year-round, Crystal Springs turns spectacular from April through June, when 600 varieties of rhododendrons and azaleas burst into bloom. From the gatehouse, visitors cross a bridge overlooking a small waterfall and rushing stream and follow paths through the enormous collection of rhodies to Crystal Springs Lake, created in 1917 by damming 13 area springs. Congregated near the shoreline and bobbing on the water are coots, widgeons, scaups, wood ducks, mallards, and Canada geese. Paddison Fountain shoots a geyser of water into the lake’s South Lagoon. A famous rhododendron show and plant sale is held here on Mother’s Day weekend.
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