Rhododendron and Bonsai Garden

I'd always vaguely taken note of the signs for the Rhododendron and Bonsai Garden off I-5 whenever we drive down south towards Portland, but never really thought about going until this was featured in a magazine recently as a "hidden gem". The article and website noted that peak blooming times for rhodies are March - May so I insisted we mosey on down there last weekend despite the iffy weather!

I'm really glad we sucked it up and went despite the drizzle because the gardens were actually quite pretty. Even better, we couldn't see where to buy entrance tickets and no one stopped us from walking in so our little afternoon trip was free! There's several different gardens to explore and it was interesting that so many Rhodies were from the Asia Pacific corridor like China, Papa New Guinea and Indonesia and even Nepal. We didn't have much time to check out the Bonsai garden but it was fun to look at these trees that are decades old and only a foot or two tall. Evie and Nora were bored but Scott liked reading up about each type of tree.

Here's a few pics of our outing.

cool little Pitcher plant

Spring time = ferns onrolling.

Nora was in a BAD mood for most of the afternoon and refused to take decent photo.

Evie decided purple was her favorite.

Pretty pathway all awash in color!

Gazebo stop to eat a snack.

Smiles because they got to have some nuts!

A formal upright maple bonsai

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