Road Trip Garden-Oregon Garden

Silverton, Oregon

You know you are in Oregon when, instead of field after field of corn and soybeans, you drive through field after field of nursery stock.

Oregon has 37,200 farms and ranches growing more than 225 different commodities across the state, according to the Oregon Association of Nurseries. According to USDA statistics, Oregon is third in the nation for nursery stock, growing 11 percent of the material sold nationwide. The state is #1 nationally in sales of bareroot stock ($134.6 million) and B&B stock ($92.9 million). It’s tops in coniferous evergreens ($121.4 million), deciduous shade trees ($118 million), and deciduous flowering trees ($51 million) while ranking third in broadleaf evergreens ($91 million) and deciduous shrubs ($73.7 million). In other words, it’s one of those annoying places that grows all the things we can’t grow at home, plus all the stuff we can grow. Not fair! So, when the opportunity finally came to visit The Pacific Northwest, this plant-geek was STOKED!

The 80-acre Oregon Garden boasts 20 specialty gardens showcasing the Willamette Valley and the Pacific Northwest botany, including the Sensory Garden, Rose Garden, Children’s Garden, and Medicinal Garden. The Conifer Garden is one of the largest collections of dwarf and miniature conifers in the U.S. and includes companion plants like Japanese maples. The striking Bosque plaza (top photo) features reflecting ponds and 40 planter boxes, each planted with a Pacific Sunset Maple.

Of significant note are the 400-year-old Signature Oak, an Oregon Heritage Tree, and the Hiroshima Peace Tree, a ginkgo descended from trees that survived the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima, Japan.