A more emotionally disciplined high-desert gardener would know better than to visit the Pacific Northwest in spring. But I’m not one, and so there I was, splashing through puddles left by a too-long stretch of rain, sheltered by blocks-long canopies of crabapple trees, snow-white and blush, punctuated by a spray of redbud or fizz of plum with resurrection fern dripping from its branches.
By virtue of its often sunny, always moist climate, Portland, Ore., is a gardening city. Early-season color cascades from steep slopes against sidewalks. Grassy meadows glow with vast drifts of daffodils.
But from March to April, the trees are the big show.
At the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, we were two weeks too early for the marquee species, but even they were trimmed in hints of color. Even after punishing storms had brutalized the ancient cedars until they crashed across paths and into the lake, the magnolia trees were a tantalizing treat. Saucer-sized blooms dancing on slender branches had shed trails of pale-pink petals — leading us home, home again to our own emerging spring.
Dana Coffield: 303-954-1954, dcoffield@denverpost.com or
