Campanula - it is true that over 100 years ago they planted thousands of Mme Caroline Testout roses in Portland, I think they were planted along the main streets. I do recall somewhere reading a couple of years ago that a rose person had found several remaining plants from the original plantings, still alive and blooming. Jackie

>The Portland Japanese Garden was voted #1 of public gardens in the west in 2013So somebody thinks there's more going on there than Van Dusen, UBCBG, Seattle Botanical Gardens, San Francisco Botanical Garden, UC Berkeley, UC Davis...? Not to mention the other public Chinese/Japanese gardens on the west coast. In Portland you should go to the Hoyt Arboretum, the Portland Classical Chinese Garden, and Cistus Nursery - unless conifers are all there is for you. Except for the over-planted little conifer collection and the interest of the individual specimens it contains - until they all grow into one another - the Oregon Garden mostly looks like a big mall or motel landscape - and has pretty much no labeling, unless this has been corrected (when we asked at the information desk we were told nobody was keeping track of what things were, and given some whack reason for this approach having been taken). So much for the promise of a great new botanical garden for the west coast, where a comprehensive showcase of local nursery products was to be created. This post was edited by bboy on Mon, Mar 3, 14 at 21:28

To be honest, Portland is not my expertise. I know of several great conifer nurseries there but they are not specifically 'gardens' for visiting, but rather involved in wholesale and plant production/creation. There are CERTAINLY dozens/hundreds of wonderful gardens in the area though, you just need to do some research to find out which accept visitors. I can't help much I'm afraid. -Will

We will actually be staying at the Oregon Garden one day. That is the northernmost point of our route in Oregon. We are also planning to visit Mount Pisgah Arboretum. We would primarily be looking for a place with knowledgeable salespeople and a variety of interesting stock items, with the goal of purchasing a single item or two, something that maybe is hard to find in our area, but has at least a reasonable chance of growing for us, kind of a "living souvenir" of our anniversary vacation. Compared to the Oregon valley area, I know that we are more arid, hotter in summer, and more alkaline soil-wise. However, we do have enough water from irrigation to grow pretty much anything, the nickname "City of Trees" does fit the Boise area well. I have been surprised at the wide variety of trees & shrubs that we have found successfully growing here.