This year I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday twice, and for both celebrations I was able to visit a beautiful garden. I’ll be doing a post on the other garden, the Idaho Botanical Garden, next week.

Located just off Reed college’s campus, the Crystal Rhododendron Garden drives home the fact that the Willamette Valley is a temperate rain forest. The delicate, colorful blooms with their waxy leaves make you feel as though you’re in a jungle.

Spring is the best time to visit the garden. Some of the plants bloom later than others, so there was still plenty to see while we were there, but a month earlier and it really would have been stunning. There are several water features throughout the garden, with lots and lots of ducks and geese.

It’s not an immense garden, but the cost of entry is low and the flowers are beautiful making it a lovely place to spend a couple hours.

If you’re planning on going to Portland in the near future though, the Rose Garden should be blooming in a couple of weeks, and that’s always worth a visit (especially to the Shakespeare Garden, which is one of my favorites).