2024.5.2. First Thursday at UW Arboretum

5/2. A first Thursday. Monthly (except for December) guided walk. I had always enjoyed these walks. Lately, seems to be the same guides.

This time, the highlights are:

• yellow peony
• azalea and rhododandron are nearing peak. In Greek, rhodo = rose, dandron = tree.
• yellow or orange rhodies or azalea often have a faint fragrance
• a woodpecker with red hair (there's a nest close by)
• new(ish) art installation mimicking the cells in the leaves (I didn't like it much, because all the crooked wires, not smooth, rather clumsy)
• golden English oak is now in its most glorious bright yellow
• common comfrey's dark purple bud and white flower color contrast

Biked to arboretum this time. Much faster than the (2) buses.

Afterwards, I biked to Japanese Garden (free first Thursday) that's less a mile south. It's a good time to come here, because azalea was blooming very well.

2021.5.31. Ballard Lock

5/31, Monday, Memorial Day. Sunny. Went to Ballard Lock. Last spring when I came here, the garden was locked (due to COVID-19). Flowers were blooming nicely. There were many different colored columbines: purple, pink, white. Freshly mowed lawn to sit on both side of the canal. The bathroom north of the lock is open (not the visitor center: opens on Fri-Sun?). Quite a few people, and a lot of boats.

Many herons roost on the trees just north of the lock.

2020.3.22. Kubota Garden

3/22. Sunday. Hazy. Warm. Anticipating further lock down in the imminent future, I took the bus to check out Kubota Garden in south Seattle. Despite of its near hundred year existence, I hadn't heard of it, until recently at an event honoring George Tsutakawa at Seattle Public Library.

The 20 acre garden is not far, but it took me almost an hour to get to. Minor disappointment that there wasn't any flowering cherry tree, or any other flowers really (a few magnolia and camellia). Cherry blossoms are everywhere now in the city, thanks to the warm winter. No rock garden either. Pleasant surprise to see quite a number of ponds, many paths that made the garden feel larger. A hill high enough to have 2 levels of small waterfall. Koi fish, ducks. Quite a few families here enjoying the spring. A couple was taking wedding photos.

King County buses are now free (I paid fare just 2 days ago). Passengers get on/off buses via the back doors, so not to contaminate the driver.

Update: As of March 23rd at 5pm, Governor Inslee has announced that he will sign a statewide Stay-At-Home order. All gatherings are prohibited. All campsites, roofed accommodations and day-use facilities on state land are closed through April 30, 2020.

2019.3.31. Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

3/31, Sunday. Warm and sunny. Took my guest to Reeds College and Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden between Blue Star donuts and lunch. Cherry blossom was very good in the college. Didn't notice the sundial before. These two places are next to each other.

The garden now charges $5/pp. Magnolia and cherry. No rhodies yet. Always a good place to watch for ducks. Saw 2 wood ducks, my favorite. Lots of people (kids).

2018.11.4. Fall color at Japanese Garden

Portland Japanese Garden's winter hour is 10-4. I arrived around 10:30, already quite a small crowd. This weekend is free for Bank of America customers. Nice colors. Maybe a few days later than optimal.


On leaving Japanese Garden, I walked through the Rose Garden. Most are already trimmed. Still some flowers left. Quite a few ginko trees in the area, now turning bright yellow.

2018.6.2. Roses and stars, a day trip from Portland

6/2, Saturday. I woke up with serious abdominal pain. Took a bunch of ibprofens. Didn't get out of the door until ~10. First stop is the International Rose Test Garden. Excellent tine to be here, despite of the crowds. I sat on a bench, let dad roam around with his camera. Instead of walking a mile to the Enterprise branch for my car, I called for a pickup. I figured that the Holocaust Memorial next door is a smaller and thus easier place to be picked up, unaware that the driver had no idea where it was. 50 mins and 3 calls later, we were picked up.

Peninsular Park north of the city has also a lovely rose garden, a big fountain, a lot less people. My first time here.

The next stop is Panther Creek falls, which is 1.5 hours of drive, all paved. The trail is very short, ~5 minute walk to a viewing deck. The falls is quite pretty, part of it drapes thin and wide down big slabs of rock, part of it is the creek running narrow and deep. I scrambled down to the creek downstream. This involves 2 short but steep rock walls.

Driving further east, we stopped by Catherine Creek. Very dry. Didn't find any Lewisia. Walked the paved path. Most prominent is Pea and Bachelor Button.

Horsethief Lake is a nice and different stop. A long row of pictographic rocks, no shade, very hot, at the end of the side road. Had picnic dinner under trees, near the campground. Good bathroom with water. Then, drove to Horsethief Butte for a walk. Good view of Hood.

My destination is Maryhill Stonehenge, so dad can look at Jupiter's moons and Venas' phase. The view of Jupiter is clearer than last time when I was here, the cloud bands were clearly visible. Not as many people as last time. We headed home before darkness fully settled. 2 hours drive.

2018.4.28 Hoyt again

4/28, Saturday, cloudy and rain occasionally. Temperature has dropped to the normal 50s. Went to Hoyt again. It was celebrating its 90th birthday this weekend. I took the seasonal highlight tour. There was supposed to be a birthday cake and story time before the walk.

We started on Beech Trail, saw the fine hair on the spine of the leave, and the copper leaves of a copper beech. Next is Devil's Walking Stick with spiny trunk and branches. Then we were told that Dogwood "flower" is actually the bract holding the real flowers inside, in a cluster. These tiny flowers don't bloom at the same time. Their leaves have latex-like substance, and if you break, you'll see the stringy threads.

Then it's the Maple section. I didn't know that all trees that produce twin seeds with wings are classified as maple. Father David's Maple has oval leaf and green bark. Right now is maple flowering time. I took many photos.

The next section is magnolia. The trees are in various stages of dropping flowers. Magnolia is pollinated by special beetles. We returned to the visitor center via Winter Garden. Daphne is blooming with a sweet smell.

Never rained during the walk. Even had brief moments of sunshine.

2018.4.8. Porland Japanese Garden

4/8, Sunday. Heavy rain in the morning postponed my trip for an hour. I arrived at the gate ~11am in light rain. Took the Washington Park Free Shuttle instead of walking from the MAX station. This runs every ~15 minutes, weekend only in April. Good thing about the rain is that very few people here, nor on the bus.

The rain made the ponds turbid. Instead of seeing the colorful fish in the water, now you see the reflection of the colorful umbrellas.

I should have come yesterday morning. I was deterred by the forecasted rain storm and high wind, but the rain and wind didn't come in mid afternoon. Now, most of the cherry blossoms were blown down. Magnolia were either budding or dying. I still enjoyed my short time here, thanks to the emptiness.

2017.11.4. Japanese Garden again

11/4, Saturday, cloudy. Maybe a week too late. Not much color, or as good as in other part of the city. The rain last week, even though not much, made the color dull. Lots of fallen leaves and bare limbs. I'm posting here the two most colorful photos I took today.
I arrived soon after the garden opened, less crowd. There were two guided groups who entered before the public (8-10am). Quite a few photographers with tripod and big lens. I didn't spend much time. Almost no one at the rose garden when I walk through it ~10.30am.

2017.10.8. Rare, Threatened and Unusual Conifers - a guided tour at Hoyt

10/8, Sunday. 12:50-2pm. More sun now. The tour started at noon. I was ~35 minute late when I walked into Hoyt Arboretum's visitor center. Could be sooner, if the Wildwood trail were fixed at the Japanese Garden. This time, to avoid scrambling, I detoured into residential area on concrete, and still wasn't sure where the connection is (didn't find any sign). Using my phone's GPS, I eventually was on track. Since my last visit on 4/30, I've been thinking of joining another tour. I enjoyed this walk too. The lady at the visitor center gave me a map, and told me that the group ought to be on the other side of the road. That narrowed down the search by half. It took me over 20 minutes to find the group. The arboretum is very pleasant to walk about, so I wasn't too bored looking for the group.

We were shown various trees, one has separate male and female cones. What I remembered are Monkey Puzzle, which really stands out. Even their dead branches stand out, and don't fall off. There's another Araucaria closer to the visitor center, but I forgot what it is. Two Patagonia Cypress, both don't look so happy in our climate. The selective breeding of Port Orford Cedar to combat root rot. Hoyt is one of the very few institutes that have some of the new strands from this breeding program.

The walk lasted till 2pm, 30 minutes past the scheduled finish line. Our guide today Julian is very enthusiastic, very happy to answer questions regarding to these trees. Another educational and enjoyable tour at Hoyt. I shall come more often.

All along in the rain. 9 adults started at the visitor center, and one jogger joined us midway. One lady from West Virginia doesn't even know the word conifer refers to cones. I took the park shuttle bus back to Japanese Garden, and then walked down to downtown via International Rose Test Garden. The garden still has a lot of blooming roses. Quite a few people, but not as many as in summer.

2017.10.8. Japanese Garden

10/8 10:30-12:05, Sunday. Cloudy. Free for Bank of America card holders this weekend. Lots of people.

I walked from Washington Park Max stop, through part of Hoyt Arboretum, then to Wildwood Trail (directed by a sign to Japanese Garden). But when I was practically at the back door of the garden, a sign says "trail not finished", but no alternative direction was given. I continued onto a road, outside of this fence. Saw ~2 park vehicles going by inside the fence. Eventually there's no space beside the fence that I could safely walk on. Had to grab on the vines and branches to scramble down a rather steep slope towards the giant parking lot. Gripe #1.

I was still early, about 10:30am, so no line at the ticket booth. Once inside, still enough people blocking my way. There's a nice looking terrace with narrow zigzag (paved for wheelchair) slowly inching up, but no steps to bridge the zigzag. Gripe #2.

At the end of this zigzag, a very nicely done set of stairs next to this water feature. Then, it's the original paved path to go up to the garden itself. A few new buildings, nicely done. This education building has the office of the director (locked) on the 2nd floor via a beautiful staircase. There's a nice courtyard you can see from the glass wall. 1st floor has classrooms. Outside, wood screen where you can slide open, like vertical blinds (except you don't turn the blade).

The next building seems to be offices. I was taking photo of this bench. Clean and elegant design. A park employee (or volunteer) told me it's white oak, and the wall is Alaska western cedar, so is the wood screen. But the entrance wall of this building is Japanese chestnut. The door is seamless in the wall. I didn't notice that it was a door, until someone opened the door. He told me the chestnut was knocked by Japanese adze to create bamboo like patterns. Expense for the eyes, but serves no function.
Behind this building is a small bonzai display area. Many of these twisted plants are as old as me. I was also informed that these new buildings have green roof - covered with sedum, at least this has practical benefit.

At 11am, I joined a guided tour. Our guide is originally from Japan. I like her. She's straightforward and cheerful. She tried to think of wheelchair accessible routes (not an easy task in this garden), but eventually lost everyone but me and 2 other guys. I didn't know that the garden was built on the old Oregon Zoo. The waterfall and fish pond was the bear den. According to her, this garden serves 3 purposes: culture awareness, education, tourism ($15 ticket price is certainly high). Preservation and environment is not a concern. There're 3 elements in a Japanese Garden: stone, water, plants. Flowers are a side effect, more of a distraction than a decoration. Green leaves and moss are more harmonious. She pointed to different strategic placement of stones, winding paths to make you slow down, view obstruction and borrowing to make the garden appear larger. She showed us the proper way of entering a tea ceremony and the tools used. She said that we shall come late in the evening, when it's much quieter. We finished the tour at the main Zen garden, which is a departure of the usual stone gardens: the little stones were raked like rice paddies now for the harvest moon festival last week, 2 green islands representing sake cup and gourd. These little stones are from a Japanese river bed, no longer legal to harvest. They stay white and glitter a bit under the sun. I really enjoyed her tour, especially the latter half, when the participation dwindled significantly.

When I left the garden, the noon tour just started. A long line in front of the ticket window.

I'll probably come back in a month to see fall foliage. This year, the color seems to turn later. For more photos, see my last visit in spring: more color.

The walk through the rose garden is always a delight. Quite a few admirers, less than in the summer, so are flowers.

2017.7.1. Lawn Bowling on Canada Day

7/1, Saturday. Went to check out Fraser Pacific Rose Society's Centennial Rose Garden. Happened onto a local tournament of lawn bowling. The rose garden is very small, even though it's in full bloom now, still it doesn't take many minutes to walk around the small plot. Ended up standing in the shading and watching the senior citizen's in their games, and in their patriotic white and red outfit. A lady came to me and asked if I had any questions about the game. She then showed me the difference of the balls, the basic rules. After one of the lanes were done by the game participants, she let us roll the balls a few times. Mine goes out wobbling.

It's Canada Day. Lots of celebration with performances and food stalls hosted in community parks. In the evenings, fireworks. At 10:20pm, the town I watched the local fireworks show from the balcony of my relatives. Not bad.

2017.1.22. Silverton Area For A Day

1/22, Sunday. Was very code beginning of the week. Rained last few days, so the streets thawed. Patchy sunshine today. Drove to Silverton's Oregon Garden. Winter is not a good time to visit, no flowers. Some nice water features. The blue wetland on the map looks more like waste land. A nice big picnic shelter in the forest. Just beyond it, a few cabins haphazardly clumped together, off a dirt road.

I like the children garden. Small, but has a few topiary trees and 3 funny pot people. Saw a few family with children here. If you live nearby, this is a nice place for a stroll. There's also a hotel here, which you can visit without paying the garden admission. Yes, the garden fenced off.

Another interesting thing here is Frank Lloyd Wright's Gordon House. It's located outside of the garden proper, and requires a special tour ticket. It's actually relocated here, painstakingly reassembled. There was a tour when we drove by. Lights were on, looks very inviting.

Drove by Silverton downtown. Stopped on this new bridge over Silver Creek. Not drivable, not very pretty. The buildings by the creek are cement blocks. A lady was doing yoga pose here. We also stopped by Silverton Reservoir. Not pretty enough to merit a photo.

Continue on the winding road is our main destination today: Silver Falls state park. We stopped first at the North Falls parking lot. Walked to Upper North Falls, and North Falls. There was ice on the ground, and a fallen tree. More shady, thus chillier. I was hoping to see icicles by waterfalls, because it has been code. But cold enough.

Next is the main entrance to the park: the starling is the South Falls. It's tall and graceful, and you can walk behind it. So we did. Dad remembered this waterfall. We were here about 10 years ago. Lots of people here.
We continued onto the Middle South Falls, about a mile farther. It's not as tall and pretty, still nice. You can also walk behind the falls. Wetter here.

1.5 hours to drive home. An easy one day trip.