The Classical Chinese Garden in Portland, OR, is a 21st-century ancient garden. It opened in September, 2000, and it's destined to be (if not already) one of the most popular garden destinations in the country.
Built on the site of an old parking lot, it's patterned after classical Ming Dynasty gardens (1368-1644AD) in the city of Suzhou, Portland's sister city, located in China's Yangtze River Delta near Shanghai. It was designed by the Suzhou Institute of Landscape Architectural Design in collaboration with Merryman Barnes Architects and Nevue Ngan Landscape Architects of Portland.
In its heyday, Suzhou had more than 260 gardens, most of them on the small side, reflecting the style of a traditional Chinese painting. Classical Chinese gardens are composed of five elements: plants, stone, water, architecture and poetry. All are present in the Portland Garden, called Lan su Yuan, or The Garden of the Awakening Orchid.
There are courtyards and a lake, a tea house, rock mosaics, a pavilion called "Knowing the Fish," which is a place for meditation and philosophical discussions. There's also a waterfall, bridges across the water, and a pavilion specifically designed for viewing the moon.
Along with all the fascinating structures, you'll also notice a wealth of plant material, many that you certainly won't encounter elsewhere in the United States. Among them are the mountain magnolia (Magnolia delavayi), the Chinese fringe flower (Loropetalum chinense 'Pipa's Red'),which is a recent introduction from the Nanjing Botanical Garden, the Chinese parasol tree (Firmiana simplex), and an evergreen shrub that looks somewhat like a rhododendron, Daphniphyllum macropodum. It has broad, bluish-green leaves that are held in place by red petioles, and in addition it has white flowers and on female plants, chalky blue fruits. There are many more special plants in this garden, many of them mentioned on the garden's website. I was lucky enough to see this garden at a special event during the annual conference of APLD, but even when the garden is crowded with visitors, it's more than well worth a visit.
(photos ©Jane Berger)
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