Portland Gardens in February
 

Are any of the Portland Gardens worth seeing in the next couple of weeks? They appear to be open and the Japanese Garden appears to have blooms. Also, if there are good views of Mt. Hood, etc. from them it may be worth it for us to visit one or two.

Definitely not the rose garden:) My roses are cut back to stubs right now. Japanese and Chinese gardens are nice throughout the year, but of course don't expect blooms like you would see in the summer. Chinese Gardens are in downtown, with high walls, so no views at all from there. For views, head to Pittock Mansion, but of course it all depends on the weather.

Yes, the Pittock Mansion grounds are a good place to view Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens if the sky is clear. It's free to visit the grounds just for the view, but you do have to drive up - no public transit unless you want to walk about 1/2 mile from a bus stop. Of course, you could visit the mansion too - it's pretty cool.

If you go to the Japanese Garden, which is in Washington Park, you can catch a view of the city with Mt. Hood in the background also - perhaps from the garden itself (not sure, haven't been there in ages) but from at the top of the big International Rose Test Garden (as mentioned, not in bloom). You have to go to the top of the Rose Garden just below the tennis courts and walk along the top edge to your left and you can see Mt. Hood well as a peek through the trees at some point. (One of the best places to shoot a picture of Portland as well, since you get the city in the foreground and Mt. Hood in the background.)

Other places to view the mountains: Council Crest Park, a windy drive to the top of the west hills (highest point in Portland) - this is small but well-known park:

http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/...&PropertyID=24

or Rocky Butte, east Portland, close to the airport:

http://www.portlandonline.com/parks/...ction=ViewPark

February is a month of gray skies, drizzle, a little risk of snow, and dormant gardens. You won't see anything going on plant-wise.

Thanks for the view sites. We aren't really expecting a clear day but have a plan now if we get one.
I figured it wasn't the time to see the gardens -- just was surprised they were open and wondered if there was a reason to go there. Thanks for your replies.

You may luck out and get a clear day or at least a partly clear day. You could see Mt. Hood clearly several days last week in Portland. You could also get rain and clouds in June. Impossible to predict for sure.

I would say, though, that if you DO get clear skies one day, take advantage of them; re-arrange whatever else you had planned and take your pictures THAT day!

I think the Japanese gardens are beautiful any time of year - won't be anything blooming but still pretty with it's manicured gardens.
I am starting to get tulips coming up in yard and several of the fruit trees around here are beginning to bloom so if there is nice weather in the next couple of weeks, there may be a few trees blooming.

We didn't really have a day clear enough to see Mt. Hood, but had a couple of hours the day we left, so did go to the places mentioned just to see what we could see. There weren't any blooms (except for daffodils) at the Rose Garden, but plenty of people were just walking through the gardens. Same with the Japanese and Chinese gardens. Good views of the city from Council Crest Park. Pittock Mansion was in fog. It was nice to ride through Washington Park.

Other than being cloudy with some intermittant light rain, the weather was great. We left Ohio with temperatures in the 20s and snow/ice and returned just in time for another big snow storm (9 inches), so clouds and temps in the 50s while we were there was great as far as we were concerned. We took a ride up to Mt.St.Helens, walked a few of the trails at Columbia River Gorge (when we arrived at the viewpoint the sun was out and there was a rainbow next to the Vista House), saw the fish hatchery and locks and wandered around downtown Portland. Our main purpose was to visit with DS who moved to Hillsboro recently, so all in all had a great trip. Hopefully will be back in the early fall. Thanks again for all your help!

Not sure when you were here, but til about Thursday we had beautiful weather last week. Today got nice again and I think we'll have sunny weather into the weekend again. Sorry you didn't get to see Mt. Hood. Just luck and timing...

Arrived Wednesday around rush hour and left Sunday night around 8PM. Yes, totally missed the nice weather, but knew that could happen so we weren't really disappointed. Although probably not the best time to see the area, it was a good time for a short trip (and relatively cheap plane tickets) to go and visit. The weather actually was better than we had anticipated. It didn't really stop us from doing what we wanted (and nice to get away from the ice and snow here -- never thought the Pacific Northwest would be the place to go in February to get away from the cold). We mastered the public transit, scoped out some good photo spots and are looking forward to a longer visit to see more of the surrounding areas also.

Glad you enjoyed your time here. Yes, we are having a really warm winter, which is good and bad;) Fall is a great time to visit, especially September.