Portland vignettes

Last week I spent three days in Portland, Oregon to visit good friends and to photograph the Portland Japanese Garden in its fall glory. I didn’t leave the house without my camera and ended up talking an assortment of photos that aren’t about a specific subject but rather capture the time of year in one of America’s most beautiful cities.

I’m purposely not including photos of Portland landmarks in this post because I want to focus on scenes of anonymous beauty.

The trees are just starting to turn in Forest Park…

…but even with green foliage the forests are beautiful

Path at Hoyt Arboretum

Fall filigree

Roger's California grape (Vitis californica x vinifera 'Roger's Red')

Washington Park

Fall color everywhere!

Arborvitaes against purple wall

Maple in the Pearl District

The brick façade of many buildings in downtown Portland is a perfect backdrop for fall foliage

Red on red

Planter and pumpkin in front of a townhouse

Italian cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) emphasizing the architectural details of this building

Small conifer garden outside a townhouse complex

Beautiful landscaping in front of this townhouse

I’ve been looking for rocks like these for our own backyard!

Landscaping in front of an adjacent townhouse—completely different from the first townhouse above, but very complementary…

…especially the use of stone.
I was very impressed with the landscaping of this row of townhouses and would have loved to see the private courtyards in the back. One of the townhouses was for sale, and I was stunned by the price: $850,000 for 2200 sq.ft. The Pearl, once an industrial and warehouse district, certainly has come a long way.

Maple leaf on the kitchen window in our friends’ house

Hydrangeas and arrow bamboo (Pseudosasa japonica)

To me, Portland is the city of hydrangeas. They seem to be everywhere!

Some people would consider these leaves a bothersome mess that needs to be cleaned up, to me they were simply beautiful

What a contrast: prickly pear (Opuntia sp.) and maple leaves. I would have thought that all the rain would cause the cactus to rot, but apparently not!

I really enjoyed my visit because Portland is so different from Davis. Here we don’t have much fall color from native vegetation; mostly, leaves just turn a nondescript brown.