A Visit to Portland Japanese Garden

by Lynnda

Purification bowl on the way to the entrance  LL

Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit the Portland Japanese Garden.  I'd never visited it before, and my one goal was to find a unique water chime that Kathy, the former head gardener at the Seattle Japanese Garden, talked about once at a Unit 86 meeting.  I never did find the water chime, and my guide, Rick, didn't know where it was either.  So, my one goal was thwarted, but the tour was very worthwhile.
To get to the garden, I choose to walk the long trail uphill rather than take the shuttle.  If one has difficulty walking, the shuttle would be the best option.  It was a steep climb to the entrance, but the woods that morning were cool and misty, allowing for a stillness prior to entering the garden.

Entry to the entry area, Portland Japanese Garden  LL

The Portland Garden is larger than the Seattle Japanese Garden by about 2 acres.  It houses 5 separate garden styles and is considered a teaching garden.

The pathway leading to the garden had an entry, and as you entered the garden, there was another more formal entry.  The first garden visited was the stroll garden.  The supports for the wisteria arbor had rotted and were replaced by concrete pillars that looked like logs.  As I walked through the arbor, there was a 5-tiered pagoda, very similar to the one in the Seattle garden that has 11 tiers. 

Wisteria arbor, Portland Japanese Garden,  LL

5-tier Pagoda, PJG - LL

Stones in front of the pagoda are arranged in the shape of the northern island, Hokkaido and although it doesn't show in my photo, there is a rose colored stone near the pagoda that represents the city of Sapporo, the sister city to Portland. 

After passing the tea garden, I crossed the zig zag bridge and was fortunate that no evil spirits were able to follow me.

AZig Zag bridge through iris beds, PJG - LL

Heavenly Falls, PJG -  LL

Imagine how beautiful that area is when the iris are in bloom!
Rick, the guide, said they are deep blue.  The lower pond is reached after following the path that leads away from the bridge.  The Heavenly Falls flows into the pond, and koi can be seen swimming lazily.  Rick told a legend of the koi struggling to swim upstream to spawn, and if they make it, they turn into a dragon.  Parents use this story to convince their children they must work hard and struggle to succeed, and they will be greatly rewarded for their efforts.

Sand and Stone Garden, PJG - LL

The sand and stone garden is enclosed in concrete walls, and there are benches on one side to allow people to sit and meditate.  Gardeners have to rake the sand about every week, and it is a difficult process that takes several hours.  They use large, heavy rakes, and can design the patterns as they wish.

Flat Garden, PJG - LL

The Flat Garden has 2 large plantings symbolizing a sake cup and a gourd filled with sake.  This is symbolic of pleasure, wishing happiness for all visitors.

There is a beautiful pavilion that has an expansive view out over the city of Portland and Mt. Hood.  Unfortunately, the day I was there, Mt. Hood was in hiding.  I must go back and see it another time.

As I review all the photos I took last week, I'm struck by how monochromatic they are.  There were a few colorful rhodies, but very different from the Seattle Japanese garden in April and May.  Perhaps that is more typical of Japanese gardens, but I love visiting the Seattle garden during the spring to watch the unfolding of all the Pacific Northwest rhododendrons and azaleas.

Unidentified tree, PJG - LL

I would have enjoyed spending more time in Portland's Japanese Garden, but this very short visit was so worth it.  I know I will go back and visit again, any time I'm in Portland.  It's a gem of a garden, and it was so interesting to see so many similarities to the Seattle Japanese Garden.  I encourage all to take a trip to Portland and take time to visit the garden.

'Coloring outside the guide lines'

by aleks

SJG • 4/17/12 - fragrant Osmathus
in full bloom right now

"Coloring outside the guide lines' is a tittle of an article written by Iain Robertson for the spring issue of Washington Park Arboretum Bulletin: the article is based on the delightful lecture/talk Iain Robertson gave to the Seattle Japanese Garden guides and the ensuing conversation we all had.

The lecture was on the topic on how can visitors get the most rewarding experience from their visit to the Garden, and suggested that the guides, instead of seeing themselves as encyclopedias of the Garden knowledge could think of themselves as choreographers who provide information in ways that promote and enrich each visitor's direct, individual experience of connecting with the Garden's 'place-specific intelligence' or genius loci (translated as the 'spirit of the place').

The article is as fascinating as was the lecture - a treasure of ideas for the guides and visitors alike;  the author writes about practical issues and concerns - the fear that some information may be omitted in such approach, the value of first impression upon entering the Garden and the idea of treating the path as a narrative for threading together of spacial experiences.

Now, I have to fess up to a few 'spiel' type of tours I gave, either because I myself couldn't connect to the spirit of the Garden and was just going through the motions, station to station like in a church, or because visitors resisted...  Oh, yeah, why not blame it on them?:) -  I particularly remember a a group of people from Baltimore who approached me as I was just finishing regularly scheduled public tour and asked for an ad hoc tour - they just happened to step in and were eager to have 'done that'; they promised they wouldn't take much of my time. Oh, boy, they truly didn't, practically sprinting ahead of me on the path every time I stopped to take a breath in the middle of the sentence, and I was chasing them while spitting fragments of my 'Garden-encyclopedia' knowledge at their heels. Entrance to finish 20 minutes gallop 'experience' it was.

SJG • 4/17/12 - Two (unidentified yet) rhodies, blooming in Area D

But of course, like all the other guides, I wouldn't last on the job 8 years if all our tours were like that - one could have simply died of boredom and repetition if the guiding was just sharing what we know about the place. Each tour IS a different experience: new day, new light, new weather, new season, new bloom or scent and new people, each of them with their own individual state of being open to the Garden, which is why Iain Robertson's article is a keeper.  It reminds visitors and guides alike, that each tour is a new adventure, and helps you to have a different adventure each and every time.

SJG - 4/17/12 - Rhod. Reticulatum,
three leaf azalea, at the entrance
to the Garden, Area C

If you are a member of the Arboretum Foundation you got your copy of the Spring Bulletin in the mail (Summer issue will have part 2 of the article), but if you are not, you can still pick up your copy at the Graham Visitor Center.  The printed article has beautiful photographs taken by the author (the pics in this blog just happened to be taken today during plant committee work, and were not supposed to be an 'experience', just a work record, but will have to do).  The bulletin is NOT on-line, because it is printed as benefit of the membership, but the Bulletin info is here.
_____________________
Iain M. Robertson is an associate professor of the Landscape Architecture Department and an adjunct faculty member in the center of Urban Horticulture and School of Forest Resources at the University of Washington.

First 2012 Guides' Meeting, April 19

by Monzie
Mark your calendar for 10:30 to noon, Thursday, April 19 in the Tateuchie Room when long-time guide Jesse Hiraoka  will give a  talk on The Sound of One Hand:  the Hand in Japanese Culture.


Jesse will begin shortly after 10:30.  If you arrive late, please enter the room from the garden by the north doors.   Refreshments will be available after Jesse's presentation, along with time  to chat and catch up after the winter's lull.

Help with setting up the room at 10 am and restoring it at 12:15 pm is - as always - very welcome!

The next monthly meeting will begin at 10:30 am, Saturday, May 19, when Sue DeNure will talk about the garden's proposed improvements.

SJG • 4/10/12 - unknown type of rhodie over the snow-viewing  lantern in area C
4/19/12 - now known type: Rhododendron hybrid  'Brocade' - deep red buds opening to peachy pink flowers

UW sakura 2012 on sunny day

by aleks [Click on pics to see them larger]

4/1/12 - UW yoshinos

Well, Seattle had 2 day break from the rain, one of them fell on Sunday - that brought lots of people to UW yoshino grove.  I couldn't stay away either, because the sun was NOT on schedule - the weather forecast announced rain for both days, so what could be better than snapping pics of the mother nature doing its own thing and not cooperating with humans, especially on such a delightful topic as cherry blossom.

4/1/12 - UW yoshinos

In one of the articles I read on the topic there was a mention of the cherry blossom festival  somewhere  (no, not in Seattle, but some major city on the east coast) cancelled one year due to rain, that must have sucked big time.  The cherry trees are beautiful wet or dry, but people are happier to see them under the blue sky. Geez, I didn't mean that cheep rhyme,  my brain must be punishing me for not joining the kids playing hopscotch under the cherry trees...

4/1/12 - UW yoshinos

Sharing the pics, since it's raining again + some Issa from David Lanoue...

birds and people 

creeping through... 

cherry blossoms

tori to tomo ni ningen kuguru sakura kana

.鳥と共に人間くぐる桜哉

by Issa, 1796

4/1/12 - UW yoshinos

.此やうな末世を桜だらけ哉

kono yôna masse wo sakura darake kana

this corrupt world

plastered

with cherry blossoms

by Issa,  1814

4/1/12 - UW yoshinos

.よしの山変桜もなかりけり

yoshino yama kawari sakura mo nakari keri

Yoshino Hill--

not a single cherry blossom

with a flaw

Yoshino is a famous place for viewing the cherry blossoms. Issa is saying that not a single blossom is "eccentric" or "different" (kawari). The scene is one of breathtaking perfection. 

by Issa,  1815

• P.S. Ah, for a great pic of a bird in a cherry tree in Tokyo go to Guardian 24 hours in pictures - Photograph: Yoshikazu Tsuno:

Japan - U.S. Cherry blossom centennial

by aleks
[Click on pics to see them larger]

Well, yoshino cherries at UW are in full bloom.  Wet sakura this year, but very beautiful still. It's been raining almost entire week, with a few hours here and there of sun breaking through...

3/31/12 - UW yoshino cherry blossoms in full bloom, and full of rain, too.

Because of the abundance of cherrie trees in Seattle, many of them a gift from Japan, the whole city looks like a giant Seattle sakura, although there are some better hanami locations then other - i listed them last year, along with links to hanami stories/pics.  And if you want more on Japanese/US connection head to Seattle Center on April 13-15 for Seattle Cherry Blossom & Japanese Cultural Festival at the Fisher Pavilion - you can learn the game GO, participate in a tea ceremony demonstration,  enjoy delicious food, Taiko drumming, Japanese artisan demonstrations and artwork.

3/31/12 • UW: wet snow of cherry blossoms

This year marks 100th anniversary of the gift of the cherry trees from the people of Japan to the people of the United States.  Here some links to stories about this event:

• An article in National geographic:
The cherry trees are blooming in Washington. Tuesday, March 27, 2012, marks 100 years since First Lady Helen Taft and the Japanese ambassador’s wife, Viscountess Iwa Chinda, planted the first two trees. No photographs of the event exist, and newspaper accounts were sketchy. But historical records offer a picture of what happened that day and how it came about.
The rest is here...

•  A story from Consulate General of Japan in Seattle:

This year Consulate General of Japan in Seattle is participating in the nationwide celebration of the gift of cherry trees to the United States. These trees were planted on the tidal basin in Washington D.C. Originally, over 3,000 trees were sent as a gift to build and cement the friendship between Japan and the United States. As the friendship between the U.S. and Japan has continued to deepen, more trees have been added to locations accross the United States. At present, cherry blossom festivals are held each year throught North America to celebrate the blossoming of these beautiful trees.
The rest is here....

•  Embassy of Japan in the United States of America website has a great photo gallery and a map of cherry blossoms across USA.


If all of that Cherry Blossom festivities put you in a mood for writing haiku (it should!) check the upcoming events of Haiku Northwest - you can register for “Haiku in the Woods” free haiku workshop and haiku walk led by Michael Dylan Welch, sponsored by the Sammamish Arts Commission.

SJG • 3/30/12 - Magnificent trunk of 100 yo+ maple

And, of course, don't forget to visit us, at  Seattle Japanese Garden in Washington Park Arboretum!  This is the only time of the year when you can observe magnificent maple trunk structures and the bare bones of the Garden, before it leafs out;  it is my personal favorite time in the Garden: you can freely spy on its design without being distracted by all that comes later in the shape of leaves, blooms and scents. Some  rhododendrons and camellias are blooming already, if you must have a color to go with it, and of course pieris japonica is on permeant flower display, and about to shoot red new growth, and so is buttercup winter hazel and Japanese spicebush; yesterday I noticed  osmanthus has buds, too, about to fill the whole eastern path with incredible scent, woo hoo!

3/31/12 • Sakura Seattle:
cherry trees in my neighborhood

BTW, I shyly started SJG 2012 bloom record - shyly, because it's in a new platform and I'm learning to navigate still - have trouble with pic sizing, text manipulation and a few other things: Keiko noted that there is too much scrolling there, therefore I'm trying to figure out how to limit the format to 1 post per page, but that's so far like fighting the windmills - it's predetermined to hold 10 posts per page and without some serious html study on my part... Well, don't hold your breath yet - that's not where my talents are...

Sakura, Sakura. UW yoshino cherry blossoms 2012

by aleks [click on the pics to see them larger]

UW Quad • 3/22/12 - cherry blossoms 

They are about half way through.  Some already fully opened. Others still waiting and lurking in their buds. Yoshino blossoms that is, in the grove of mature cherry trees at UW Quad.

Let me bring up here Keiko's link to Quad Cherry Blossom Watch (posted on Facebook by University of Washington Visitors Center), buried down in the comments under Lynnda's great post about 'Winter work completed';  thank you, Keiko!  People are posting pics of the blossoms as the days go by, so for those of you who can't come, here it is - you can monitor their daily progress, blow by blow:
http://www.facebook.com/uwvic

UW Quad • 3/22/12 - fun with the cherry blossoms

Stopped to look at them yesterday afternoon, and so did half of Seattle, it seems :)... Crowds of people, taking pics and just milling under the blossoms...  Waiting..  Viewing... Contemplating...  or  just being there.  There is no cherry blossom snow yet, but the ornamental plums are lightly snowing now.

UW Quad • 3/24/12 - Sakura, sakura

We shared the elevator back to the UW parking lot with a large, 3-generational family: from a joyfully jumping toddler in her Sunday's best to a set of grandparents; they looked very happy so I asked: are you here to see the cherries? They all nodded, smiling and the the Middle of the family (mother?) answered: 'YES!' Are you coming every day?  'No, but we will be here next weekend'.   That's probably the time to come, Joe in Aberdeen - mankai time :)

UW Quad • 3/24/12 - waiting for mankai

Just looked into my 'Daily Issa' inbox: found this gem, courtesy of David Lanoue:

"Be brave, cherry blossoms 

and fall!" 

the little trout

kokoro shite sakura chire-chire ayu ko ayu

.心して桜ちれちれ鮎小鮎

by Issa, 1810

I assume that these encouraging words are being spoken by a little trout in a stream under the tree(s), hence the quotation marks. [DL]

• • • • • •

And here Yo-Yo  Ma playing beautiful traditional Japanese folk song, 'Sakura, Sakura':