Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden

Crystal Springs Rhododendron Gardens (9.49 acres) is an internationally recognized seven-acre botanical gardens located on SE 28 Avenue between Eastmoreland Golf Course and Reed College, in Portland, Oregon, USA. It is affectionately known as the "Rhody Gardens."


Historical Information
The development of a display and test garden was initiated in 1950 by the Portland Chapter of the American Rhododendron Society. Sam Jackson, owner of the Oregon Journal, had donated 27 acres on Terwilliger Blvd for the garden, but the site was deemed unsuitable because of its steep terrain. Claude I. Sersanous, one of the group assigned to select a new site, suggested the garden's present location near Reed College. Referred to as Shakespeare Island by Reed College students because of the Shakespearean plays that had been performed there, it was abandoned and overgrown with brush and blackberries. Through the efforts of chapter memebers and other volunteers, and with the support of Park Superintendent C.P. Keyser, the garden flourished. In 1964, the garden was officially named Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden.


The garden celebrates the many attributes of rhododendrons, from their fine structure and attractive leaves to their resplendent flowers. Boasting nearly 800 species and hybrid varieties, the 2,500 rhododendrons and azaleas that make up the collection at Crystal Springs include admirable specimens that are nearly one hundred years old.




DUCK!


Directions
The garden is located on SE 28 Avenue, one block north of Woodstock, between Eastmoreland Golf Course and Reed College. Or take TriMet bus #19 Woodstock. This bus takes alternating routes as it goes through Eastmoreland; ask the driver for the stop nearest the Garden.

Reed College is a private, independent, liberal arts college located in southeast Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1908, Reed is a highly selective four-year residential college with a campus located in Portland's residential Eastmoreland neighborhood, featuring architecture based on the Tudor-Gothic style, and a forested canyon wilderness preserve at its center.

Reed houses about 1,000 students in 18 residence halls on campus and several college-owned houses and apartment buildings on or adjacent to campus. Seen below is the Gothic Old Dorm Block was built in 1912 and remodeled in 1992. The design was inspired by old English manor houses with grotesques scattered about the roofs and doorways.