Spring Flowers Portland Bloomscrolling May 14, 2025 Spring marches on in Portland with new blooms to enjoy almost every week. On almost every walk, I see something newly blossomed, a few I've never seen before. All of these were taken in the last week or so around the nearly completed resevoir in Washington Park. Tiny blue flowers on a garden wall. Unusual small trumpets on a rare (for Oregon) tree. Some brightly colored blooms you might think were made of wax. Clemantis in full bloom.
Cherry Orchard Wild Flowers It's definitely spring in the Columbia Gorge, at least the far eastern part near The Dalles. On Sunday, I hiked the Cherry Orchard trail near Lyle on the Washington side of the river. It's a little early yet, but the bright sunflower-yellow balsamroots were already in full bloom.
Magnolia More flowers are breaking out in Washington park. This singular magnolia is one of my favorites, with its vivd magenta blooms. There's a whole section of magnolias a short distance away in Hoyt Arboretum, but I don't think it includes this spectacular specimen.
Trillium Like many in the Pacific Northwest, I keep a lookout along the trails for trillium. The little plants that sprout from the forest floor are widely viewed as a harbinger of spring. This dense patch of small plants was spotted in the Cloud Forest section of Washington Park.
Flower & Bee It's been a rather emphatic end of summer this Labor Day with drizzle a good part of the day. I did take a short walk thorugh Washington Park and found these pretty trumpet shapped blossoms near the Rose Garden, along with one bee still working hard.
Tiger Lilies Among all the flowers one encounters along the trails this time of year, Tiger Lilies are my favorite. A stem full of tiger lilies.