Heirloom Roses

It’s June. It’s Portland. And it’s all about roses. For years, the Rose City has celebrated its eponymous flower with a festival, parades, royal court, and the obligatory visit to its most famous showplace, the International Rose Test Garden in Washington Park. If you want to smell the roses without the crowds, head south about 25 miles to the Willamette Valley for a visit to Heirloom Roses.

Here, spread out over five acres of themed gardens, are thousands of roses in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Visitors are free to wander through the grounds admiring the Climbers, the Miniatures, the Hybrid Teas, or sit on a bench in the shade and enjoy the fragrance and hues.

In the Sales Cottage, a wide variety of plants are available along with rose-specific gardening tools, books, and supplies. The gardens are open year round with roses in bloom from May to October, but June is certainly the peak time.  Take a look!

 

 

 

 

 

Shore Acres Park, a Seasonal Delight

What an amazing Christmas present Cassie Simpson received in 1906! Her husband, lumber baron and shipping tycoon Louis J. Simpson, gifted her with a splendid mansion on a high promontory overlooking the Pacific Ocean near Cape Arago on the southern Oregon Coast. It must have been a challenge to wrap with its heated indoor pool, huge stone fireplace, myrtlewood wall paneling, and 2700-square foot ballroom.

What began as a summer home eventually became their fulltime residence as art work, riding stables, tennis courts, and a Roman bath were added to the property. Louis had a strong interest in developing a formal garden. The rich soil and coastal, temperate climate created perfect growing conditions, and soon hydrangeas and roses were supplemented with exotic plants from around the world delivered via his ships.

Sadly, Cassie died in 1921 and later that year the entire house burned to the ground. Six years later, an even grander replacement mansion was constructed on the site, but the realities of the approaching financial Depression of the 1930s drained Simpson’s resources. The house was never completed and gradually fell into disrepair. The property was sold to the state of Oregon in 1942 and, during World War II, was used as a barracks for soldiers.

After the war, the house was torn down but the formal garden, gardener’s cottage, and spectacular view remained to become Shore Acres State Park. The park, located 13 miles south of Coos Bay/North Bend, occupies a three-mile stretch of coastline between Sunset Bay and Cape Arago. On the site where the Simpsons’ mansion once stood is a glass-enclosed observation building. This is a great spot for viewing wild, winter waves and migrating whales while staying dry and out of the wind.

Trails to the north and south offer more dramatic views of the surf and tilted layers of exposed rock where wave erosion has created unusual holes and knobs on the sandstone cliffs. Slightly south of the park, a new interpretive overlook offers views to Shell Island and Simpson Reef. Noisy, barking seals, sea lions, and elephant seals can be seen year-round, and gray whales travel along the coast here from December to June.

Competing with this rugged seascape is a remarkable seven-acre botanical garden.  Carefully manicured and maintained, it offers a long season of blooms starting with spring bulbs and tulips (over 8,000), azaleas, and rhododendrons.  Later, roses and other perennials and annuals provide summer color while dahlias take center stage in the early fall. There is also a Japanese-style garden with a lily pond guarded by a pair of bronze herons, and a 95-foot tall Monterey pine dating back to the original estate. An extensive gift shop at the garden’s entrance offers many gardening related items and crafts made by local artisans.

Beginning in 1987, the non-profit Friends of Shore Acres started an annual Christmas tradition of decorating the garden with lights. Today it takes 1500 volunteers to string 300,000 lights around trees and shrubs and 26 holiday trees. Large sculptures shaped by lights include a whale, jellyfish, frog, Dungeness crab, butterflies, and even underwater koi fish in the lily pond. Refreshments and musical entertainment complete the holiday experience. Last year this community event drew 47,000 visitors from 28 countries and 45 states to this remote section of the Oregon Coast. This year’s display will begin November 28 and run through December 31.

Celebrating Spring Flowers

Every flower has its day in the Pacific Northwest. Throughout the blooming season local festivals celebrate lilacs, peonies, dahlias, roses, and most other posies. The 2010 season kicks off this weekend with the Daffodil Festival in Junction City, Oregon. At the Long Tom Grange on daffodil-lined Ferguson Road, there will be homemade cinnamon buns, wagon rides, arts and crafts booths, and lots and lots of bright yellow flowers.

The next celebrated flower is the tulip with its wide array of intense colors. It is the harbinger of spring; a bright burst of color signifying the end of a long grey winter. With our cool, rainy climate, tulip growing has been an important agricultural commodity in the Pacific Northwest for many years, and the area offers a number of tulip festivals during March and April. Bloom time for tulips in this region can run from late February to late May depending on the variety, but most display their showy petals during April, peaking around the second week of the month.

Oregon’s largest display is east of Woodburn at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm where the 25th Annual Woodburn Tulip Festival will be in full swing from March 25 through April 25. With over 40-acres of brilliant blooming flowers, the farm enjoys a splendid setting with Mt. Hood and the foothills of the Cascade Range in view on clear days. Festival visitors can tip toe through the tulip fields, order from a selection of over 150 bulbs, and buy freshly cut tulips and daffodils. A gift shop features unique Dutch items and gardening books and accessories, and there are many kid-friendly activities for tulip lovers of all ages. Weekends offer additional attractions such as wine tastings, live music, local sausages, and arts and crafts tents.

Not to be outdone, Washington State also has its share of tulip festivals with the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, north of Seattle, drawing over one million visitors from all over the world. This event, running the entire month of April, is spread throughout Skagit County with tulip fields and farms covering a 15-mile radius. Festival events are scattered around several towns and offer something for everybody including bike and running events, street fairs, parades, art displays, quilt walks, salmon barbeques, antique markets, and wine tastings.

On a much smaller scale is the Woodland Tulip Festival, about a half hour drive north of Portland on I-5. The event takes place at the Holland America Bulb Farm owned by the Dobbe family. Benno Dobbe, along with his wife and three young children, immigrated to the United States from the Netherlands in 1980 and bought five acres of land along the Lewis River. Despite their modest beginnings, the farm now distributes millions of bulbs and cut flowers all over the world. This year’s tulip festival runs from April 3 through 30 and is similar to the event in Woodburn with tulip fields to walk through, a charming display garden with tulips and other spring-time blooms, and a gift shop offering fresh cut flowers and bulbs. On weekends, there are additional activities including live entertainment, ethnic food, crafts by local artists, and events for children.