Cherry blossoms are an exceptionally welcoming sight to see, and Portland is home to the best places to see cherry blossoms.
Who doesn’t like flowers, especially when it comes to the blooming flowers in spring? Portland is known to be a city of flowers and reading this article, you’d know why.
The cherry blossoms in Portland are the happiest occasion when they bloom. The barren branches of trees give rise to the fresh blossoms, living up again. The parks shine up, the pathways brighter and the lakes sparkle with the shadows of blossoms along the pathways.
The cherry blossoms in Portland are a huge attraction to both the locals and the tourists. So, while you’re in Portland, enjoying the city and exploring around, the parks of Portland aren’t a thing to miss. You get to see the beauty of nature and if you’re lucky enough to enjoy the sight of cherry blossoms blooming, you’d definitely know it’s one of the most beautiful things to look at and capture.
From mid of March till mid of April is the ideal time for the cherry blossoms to bloom. During this time, they bloom to their peak, yet the blooming period isn’t very long. The extreme peak would last 4 to 7 days only. So, if you’re planning a visit especially to capture the beauty of cherry blooms, you should be doing it at just the right time.
Can Cherry Blossom Trees Grow in Portland Maine?
Yes, although Maine has long and cold winters, it has an ideal climate for growing several cherries, such as the black cherry, the Richmond cherry, the Sand cherry western, and the Nanking cherry. The ideal time for cherry trees to be planted in Maine is the Spring.
Top 10 Best CHERRY BLOSSOMS IN PORTLAND
Here are some of the amazing cherry blossoms and flowery places in Portland that I found very lovely and beautiful. If you’re in Portland or you’re planning a trip to Portland, do add some of these to your bucket list!
- Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden
- Duniway Park Lilac Garden
- Hoyt Arboretum
- Lan Su Chinese Garden
- Laurelhurst Park
- Portland Japanese Garden
- Portland Rose Garden
- Tom McCall Waterfront Park
- Washington Park
- Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival
1. Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden
Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden is a botanical garden, spread over a land of 9 acres. The garden is full of unseen and unique species of shrubs such as Rhododendron itself, azaleas, and others. Other than the rare shrubs, this garden is home to countless plants and trees.
A dazzling display of color is provided by towering Rhododendron plants framed by Douglas-fir walls in this garden. What’s even more special about this park is its spring blooms in pink and purple shades.
Although this park doesn’t have many species of cherry blossoms but the lively and fresh vibes that you get here seeing the blooms are incomparable. That’s the reason this park had to be on my list today. There’s no better place for a quick weeknight picnic than this urban park near downtown Eugene.
The park offers beautiful views of waterfalls and bridges along with a splendid display of cherry blossoms. There are lakes, streams, and a lot of bird species just within the park. The chirping of birds, the calmness, and the beautiful blooms here will make you forget about your busy life for some time, and you’d be able to appreciate nature truly.
- Best Time to Visit – April through May
- Hours: 6 am to 10 pm, Everyday
- Address – 5801 SE 28th Ave, Portland, OR 97202, United States
2. Duniway Park Lilac Garden
This garden is home to a beautiful collection of lilacs. In fact, a collection of 167 lilac plants was donated to this garden by a member of the club who purchased these plants and then donated them.
In addition to its magnificent collection of lilacs, Duniway Park also boasts outstanding Sakura trees. There is nothing like the aroma of cherry blossoms filling the air at the end of April or the beginning of May.
In collaboration with horticulture groups, the Portland Garden Club pledges that this garden will grow into one of the “premier gardens in the Northwest“. So, it should come as no surprise that there is some gorgeous sightseeing to be had.
It has taken a relentless effort on the part of the gardeners to bring the garden back to life. A Lilac Garden steering committee oversees weeding, clearing, edging, mapping, identifying, planting new lilacs, and adding underplantings to the existing 14 beds.
Field trips and work parties are held regularly in the garden. Community outreach projects are being undertaken by horticulture groups by “adopting” beds. As part of the drainage, parking, signage, and design projects, PP&R is currently collaborating closely with the garden committees.
- Best Time to Visit – Late April till May
- Hours: 5 am till midnight, Everyday
- Address – SW 6th Ave & SW Sheridan St, Portland, OR 97201, United States
3. Hoyt Arboretum
Hoyt Arboretum is basically located just within the famous Washington Park. It wouldn’t be incorrect to call Hoyt Arboretum a ‘living museum’ as it encompasses over two thousand species of trees and shrubs spanning 190 acres.
It was established in 1928 and contains over two thousand species of trees and shrubs. During the spring bloom season, cherries are only one of the many colorful spring flowers you get to see and enjoy the sight.
Hoyt Arboretum is one of the beautiful spots to enjoy nature that’s less popular compared to the other parks in Portland, but it’s still worth seeing when the flowers are in bloom. The advantage of it being not-so-popular is that it’s less crowded most of the time. You’ll be able to enjoy your time in a very calm and quiet environment with views of spring flowers.
Also, the flowers here bloom later than the others so, just in case you missed seeing the blossoms in Washington or any other park, you can always head over to Hoyt Arboretum. Near the east water tank, between Magnolia and Hawthorne trails, you’ll also find cherry trees at Hoyt Arboretum’s Wildwood Trail.
- Best Time to Visit – April
- Hours: 5 am to 10 pm, Everyday
- Address – 4000 SW Fairview Blvd, Portland, OR 97221, United States
4. Lan Su Chinese Garden
Lan Su Chinese Garden is an insanely beautiful garden, all green and authentically beautiful. In fact, the visitors here like it more than the Japanese gardens as it is a small but tranquil garden, less crowded and very peaceful.
The downtown area of Portland is one of the most beautiful places in the city. With its Koi swimming among the water lilies and lotus, the pond is magical – the plants and flowers are constantly changing with the seasons and it all smells amazing.
Lan Su Chinese Garden is one of Portland’s collaborations with Suzhou, a city famous for Ming Dynasty gardens in China. The park has kept the 2000-year-old legacy of art and culture, and this is what made it one of the twelve greatest cherry blossom treasures of Portland.
Moreover, it’s not just about the blossoms in this Chinese garden, you can participate in many fun activities that go on in the place. These include Lost Treasure Hunt, Explore with Dragonfish, and many others.
There’s also a very nice tea shop as well as a garden shop because there’s a high chance that you would not want to leave without buying some blossoms for your home.
- Best Time to Visit: Start of March
- Hours: 10 am to 6 pm, Everyday
- Address – 239 NW Everett St, Portland, OR 97209, United States
5. Laurelhurst Park
This one is definitely one of the very best parks in Portland, and you’ll hear great hype about it while you’re in Portland. It’s a huge park with lots of activities going on all the time, has a nice very nice pond where you could feed ducks and the bloom of flowers during the spring is whole another vibe.
There are so many cherry blossoms and rhododendrons in Laurelhurst. On a walk around the park, you’d definitely be mesmerized by the beauty it holds. Remember to carry with you a basket to collect some blooms for your home.
Moreover, it’s not just the blossoms that bring the visitors here. There’s a lot at Laurelhurst to be explored and enjoyed. For the family visits, you can just take a long walk along the park. Locals also come here for the morning runs and jogging. There are picnic tables, playing courts, a beautiful pond with ducks and turtles, a dog area for the pet owners, and of course, a lot of fresh blooms to watch.
All the purplish and pinkish blooms in spring light up the park even more. This park is a perfect spot for all generations, kids, adults, and seniors too.
- Best Time to Visit: Mid of March till early April
- Hours: 5 am to 10.30 pm
- Address – SE Cesar E Chavez Blvd and Stark Street Portland, OR 97214, United States
6. Portland Japanese Garden
This one’s another division of land in Washington Park, spread over an area of 5.5 acres, named ‘Japanese Garden’ but is a part of the famous Washington Park. Portland Japanese Garden is known to be the best Japanese garden which is actually located outside Japan. You must have heard about a lot of Japanese gardens, but that’s only limited to the name. The Japanese tradition, very truly, could be seen here at this park.
There’s a lot in the park to be explored and enjoyed yet the blooms in Spring are an exception. Although there aren’t long fields of cherry blossoms here, you do get to see a very calm and soothing environment of some of them sprinkled around in the park.
Moreover, there are many koi-filled ponds, trickling waterfalls, and Zen rock gardens that will calm and center you as you stroll along the peaceful walkways. It is always a wonderful sight to view the garden’s cherry blossoms blooming each spring into soft clouds of pink. You will feel as though you are in Japan itself when you are surrounded by the quiet beauty of the garden.
- Best Time to Visit: From late March to mid of April
- Hours: 10 am to 3:30 pm, Every day except for Tuesday
- Address: 611 SW Kingston Ave, Portland, OR 97205
7. Portland Rose Garden
Well, this park is called Rose Park for a very obvious reason. It’s a city of roses because it grows plenty of beautiful roses, and the climate at this park plays a great role in providing just the perfect growing conditions for these roses. Portland Rose Garden is very much loved by the locals and as well as tourists and it’s the largest and the oldest rose garden in entire America.
Rose Garden has a little history too. It wasn’t really established with the goal of creating a park. Rather, at the time of World War I, many roses were threatened to eradicate, so the rose garden was created in order to preserve them because they were at risk of extinction. Later on, somehow, it grew into an exceptional rose garden and a great attraction to nature admirers.
Moreover, the park is home to more than 650 different varieties of roses with a total of 10000 rose bushes, as well as stunning views of downtown Portland and Mount Hood. So, you get to enjoy both the views of the city, along with rows and rows of flowers in the Rose Garden.
While you’re on a walk around the park, you’ll also be able to discover the unique names of the plants as you stroll the rows of golden yellow to deepest red.
- Best Time to Visit:400 SW Kingston Ave, Portland, OR 97205, United States
- Hours: 5 am to 10 pm, Every day
- Address – 400 SW Kingston Ave, Portland, OR 97205, United States
8. Tom McCall Waterfront Park
Tom McCall Waterfront Park is the best spot for cherry blossoms in Portland on our list today. It has a large steel bridge surrounded by all the cherry trees, rich and beautiful with cherry blossoms. All these trees line up along the boundary of the lake, giving a perfect view and the most breathtaking display. You might not want to believe your eyes when you see the trees literally exploding with such a load of delicate blossoms.
Each spring, the fields, and meadows at this park are filled with colorful wildflowers that transform them into expressionist paintings. Even though the gorge’s views are breathtaking, be sure to take time to gaze at the ground to see everything from purple lupines to other flowers, including sunflower-like flowers too.
Being a very popular spot for blossoms, and breathtakingly beautiful views of the bridge and water, it’s a very popular park for both the tourists and the locals. And this is the reason it is super busy all along the spring season because the blooms are mostly what people come to watch and capture.
So, to make the best out of a visit to the most amazing spot for cherry blossoms, you should arrive early in the morning. The picture during the sunrise is totally worth it!
- Best Time to Visit: Mid of March till early April
- Hours: 5 am to midnight, Every day
- Address – 98 SW Naito Pkwy, Portland, OR 97204, United States
9. Washington Park
Washington park is also a great place to cherish the beauty of cherry blossoms in Portland. It’s spread over 410 acres of land and is a mountainous park which means it also displays the spectacular views of Mount Hood, Cascades, and Mount St. Helens. So, while you’re there for a walk through the park, you get to enjoy the views of the city as well as the beauty of blossoms.
Portland Japanese garden is a part of Washington Park. There is a grove of cherry blossom trees just across the street from the entrance of the Japanese Garden that scatters pink petals across the pathways and the playing courts. If you desire more, more Portland spring flowers can be found at the Hoyt Arboretum, including tweedy reds, trilliums, dogwoods, magnolias, cherry blossoms, and so many others.
Also, other than just the views, there’s a lot you can do at the park. You may take a stroll on any of the arboretum’s trails if you wish to hike and see the spring blooms too, and some of the arboretum’s 2,000 plant and tree species which have been gathered here at Washington park from around the world.
You’ll definitely find lots and lots of spring blooms all along the park, but the coolest display could be seen along the pathway when you walk between the tennis courts and the rose garden.
- Best Time to Visit: Late May to September
- Hours: 5 am to 10 pm, Every day
- Address – 4033 SW Canyon Rd, Portland, OR 97221, United States
10. Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival
If there hasn’t been enough flowery environment for you at any of the parks, this festival must be the thing you’re looking for. It’s 40 acres spread of tulips and not only that but there’s also an additional 200 acres for the activities and stuff during the spring season. 40 acres of flowers – that’s a lot. You may take long walks and the widespread of flowers still won’t come to an end.
Also, there’s a lot of space for you and your kids to play and enjoy at the park. There’s also the balloon riding here which is what most tourists are most excited about, the fact is that it isn’t a common seeing in other parks.
This place is truly a collection of arrays of flowers that cast the vibrant and lively tulip fields all along. You can have amazing food here too, with a lot of other activities to spend some quality time here. You should definitely see the colorful tulips in full bloom here at the Wooden Shoe Tulip while you’re out to explore Portland for the sight of its beautiful flowers and spring blooms.
- Best Time to Visit: Early to mid of April
- Hours: 10 am to 4 pm, Every day
- Address – 33814 S Meridian Rd, Woodburn, OR 97071, United States
How Long Will the Cherry Blossoms Last?
The life of cherry blossoms isn’t very long. Under typical conditions, the best views could be seen within 4 to 7 days after they reach the peak of bloom. The full-bloom cherry blossoms do not live longer but under ideal conditions only, they may last for about up to two weeks.
What Season Do the Cherry Blossoms Bloom?
The season of cherry blossoms greatly depends on the area and environment they’re growing in, and the weather conditions there. For most environments, the peak of their bloom can be seen from the end of March till the first week of April.
Some even reach their peak bloom around 10 April. But for some places, because spring arrives somewhere between May to September, that is also the blooming time for cherry blossoms.
For extreme warm or cold temperature conditions, the peak bloom could be as early as around 15 March and as late as around 18 April.
Cherry Blossom Vs Plum Blossom Vs Peach Blossom
Although the cherry blossoms, plum blossoms, and peach blossoms belong to the blossom family, they can be minutely differentiated.
For the petals, a slit runs along the outside edge of the cherry blossoms. Plum flowers have nothing like that on their petals. And the petals of peach blossoms have stringy stamens towards their center.
The leaf color of cherry trees is green. Plum trees have it brown and Peach trees have it green too, but they turn yellow during the fall season.
The color of cherry blossoms are white or light pink, plum blossoms are bright pink, and peach blossoms, its pale pink with deep pink in the center.
For the smell, cherry blossoms are less flowery in their smell, plum blossoms smell stronger while peach blossoms are mild but lingering in smell.
The blooming time for cherry blossoms is during the last week of March and the first week of April. Plum blossoms bloom from February till March when it’s late winter to early spring and the Peach blossoms bloom from Early March to late April.
Are Plum Blossoms and Cherry Blossoms the Same?
No, Plum blossoms and Cherry blossoms aren’t exactly the same, but they do look alike if you don’t know the difference. The plum blossoms have round-shaped buds while the cherry blossoms have more oval-like buds.
Furthermore, for the plum blossoms, there’s only one blossom bud coming out of each stem. While for the cherry blossoms, there are many blossom buds that come out of each stem.
Cherry Blossoms in Portland – FAQs
Conclusion
For anybody who is a fan of cherry blossoms, Portland never disappoints. You get to see some of the most beautiful views of cherry blossoms blooming in the parks of Portland and adding to the beauty of nature.
We hope our article would have given you options to explore and enjoy the sight of cherry blossoms while you’re in Portland. Remember to carry along a camera to get some blossoming photos and beautiful memories captured.
