Leach Botanical Garden is a
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
located in outer southeast
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
,
near S.E. 122nd Avenue and Foster Road.
It was acquired by the
Portland Parks Bureau in 1972.
History
The garden was established in 1931 as landscaping for the private home of botanist
Lilla Leach and pharmacist John Leach, and subsequently donated to the city. The garden was originally named Sleepy Hollow. The Leaches built their cottage-style manor house on the property in 1936. They lived in a stone cottage near Johnson Creek during the summer before the house was completed.
Lilla Leach was the first recipient of the Eloise Payne Luquer Medal, awarded by the
Garden Club of America
The Garden Club of America is a nonprofit organization made up of around 18,000 club members and 200 local garden clubs around the United States. Founded in 1913, by Elizabeth Price Martin and Ernestine Abercrombie Goodman, it promotes the record ...
in 1950, for distinguished achievement in botany. From 1945 until 1948, she was director of Save the Myrtle Wood, Inc.
Guide to the Lilla Leach Papers at the University of Oregon
/ref>
Following the Leaches' deaths, the garden was left to the City of Portland with the stipulation that the city had ten years to take over maintenance of the garden, or the land would go to the YMCA.
The Gardens
The garden currently features a diverse collection of over 2,000 hybrids, cultivars, native and non-native plants, including alpines, medicinal herbs, rock garden plants, camellia
''Camellia'' (pronounced or ) is a genus of flowering plants in the family Theaceae. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia. There are more than 220 described species, with some controv ...
s, and 40 genera and over 125 species of fern
A fern (Polypodiopsida or Polypodiophyta ) is a member of a group of vascular plants (plants with xylem and phloem) that reproduce via spores and have neither seeds nor flowers. The polypodiophytes include all living pteridophytes exce ...
s. Many are labeled. The property is divided by Johnson Creek
Photo Gallery
Image:Leach Botan1.JPG, Stone Cabin
Image:Leach Botan2.JPG, Rock garden
Image:Leach Botan4.JPG, Leach Manor entrance
See also
* List of botanical gardens in the United States
References
External links
Leach Botanical Garden on PortlandOnlineUnique crafts and classes abound at Leach Garden
- ''East Portland News''
{{Parks in Portland, Oregon
1931 establishments in Oregon
Botanical gardens in Portland, Oregon
Parks in Portland, Oregon
Southeast Portland, Oregon