The Oregon Garden

Super nice garden with many native conifers, trees and flowers, as well as a small greenhouse with beautiful tropical plants. The garden is pretty large, and even in the middle of winter it is very interesting to walk around and learn about Oregon’s native forests. We can’t wait to go back in spring!

We went to Oregon gardens for the lights and the ice skating for our 3 year old daughter.
Half the lights were out. And the pathway needed to be maintained a little better as we were stepping in mud and ruining our shoes.
The ice skating was 12.00 per person for a ice skating rink the size of my living room. Then on top of that had to pay for your skate rental.
So for a time of ruining our shoes. Seeing lights that were half out and paying a fortune to skate in an area so small that you couldn’t move barely without running into someone or being run in too.
Plus all the other charges such as the Oregon garden admission and the parking we paid 78.00 to basically have a bad time and was forced to put a smile on our faces for our child. Won’t be recommending the ice skating to anyone.

For Christmas lights… Just left and special thanks to all the volunteers who directed traffic and kept fires stoked at the warming stations. DO NOT PANIC if you see long pedestrian line after you pay parking fee. There is another parking area at top of hill that we got directed to and there was no line to enter the garden. THERE ARE ALSO BATHROOMS TOO.
There is a short uphill walk to get to the lights and main venue but it is well lit with colorful lights.
TAKE WARM CLOTHES. We saw so many kids with no coats or gear for the rain. Food prices are very reasonable. Coffee beer and shots of cinnamon whiskey are available as well.

One of the highlights of our vacation, from my perspective. Visited with Dear Hubby, Adored Grandson (11), my brother and his three sons (16, 12, 11) in late July. My aunt was surprised that the boys would like a botanical garden. These are well-​traveled kids, so it worked well.
We’d come up from Sunriver that morning, stopping at Sahalie Falls along the way. By the time we hit Silverton, it was late in the afternoon, and quite hot. We didn’t expect to have a lot of time at the gardens, but still wanted to squeeze it in.
At the gift shop we picked up cold beverages when we paid admissions. They informed us we could catch the last tram ride of the day — included in the entrance fee. Also, we were welcome to stay until dusk on our own after they closed up the shop. A time bonus! That was great to hear.
Very informative tram tour. Learned about the history and mission of the gardens. Also the partnership with the water reclamation district. The Garden enjoys free water and uses it wisely! Their intent is to showcase themed areas with an eye to ideas that home gardeners can incorporate in their own landscapes.
Highlights included the children’s garden, where the younger boys were rolling down the small hill on top of the Hobbit house. The reflecting pool garden was beautiful in the summer, but would be spectacular when fall colors are on the trees. Water garden was very large, with many water plants, and a sea monster! Boys thought that was really cool.
They also had to get into the various water features which were clearly designed for close contact, like the rain curtain. Skinny kids can dart sideways through the streams of water falling from a top bar, or accidentally dunk themselves on a hot, sunny day.
Spaces were showcasing edibles and herbs, another for Proven Winners test flowers. One area felt like a lovely backyard setting with a water feature and meandering paths.
We lingered for several hours, going back over the areas where the overview tour had highlighted for us. We didn’t get a chance to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright house on the premises. Have since learned its the only one in the State of Oregon.
Took a lot of beautiful photos at the Garden. Sharing a few here.

Oregon Gardens is a short day trip that has a plethora of amazing gardens to peruse. It is pet friendly and has a pet garden that teaches about pet friendly plants and pet proofing your garden.
They also have a few vegetarian and vegan choices in their café.

Decent for a breakfast or lunch while at the garden. The rice bowl is good and the lamb pita OK. The fruit crisp is good too. The service was quick.

The Oregon Gardens is a giant wonderland dedicated to fauna. It is located in Silverton, which unfortunately is in the middle of nowhere, but the gardens are still worth visiting at some point. It is a vast array of land with swamps, forests, gardens, farmer’s markets and more. Admission is usually eleven dollars for adults, and they have a resort if you are so inclined. They have plenty of parking so that you can walk around this masterpiece by foot within an hour or two.
I went here for the 3^rd of July. The parking ticket instructions were complicated, but you can try parking at any of their public lots. When I got out of the car, I walked up and there was a nice visitor’s center, where I was able to get into the garden for free, unlike a typical day. I set up my chairs in the grass per a typical fourth celebration and things went on smoothly thereafter.
Then, after going back to their nice visitor’s center and having a two-​dollar soda, I proceeded to explore the gardens. There were lots of little paths for adventure and a host of displays. The front end had a swamp and the back end had some wonderful forests. This took about an hour to explore, though the value was met in such sheer biodiversity.
When I returned to my chairs, I decided to get something to eat. There was a farmer’s market next to the big collection of garden squares where music was playing. All the lines were fairly long, though I decided to eat anyway. There I tried some Mexican food, amidst choices of doughnuts and barbecue. Then I returned to some wonderful fireworks, which were highly creative and engaging. Getting out of the parking lot took thirty minutes though, and they could have had more people directing traffic so it could take less time, nevertheless it was not too bad.
It is worth the trip to go to The Oregon Gardens at least once.

Silverton, OR: Wonderful displays for the entire family to enjoy.
As suggested by one of the gals at the Admissions counter in the gift shop, we rode the tram ride, included with the cost of tickets, then went back to walk through the areas we wanted to get a closer look at. Those areas included the interactive Children’s Garden, the historic Oak Grove Trail, and the Pet Friendly display Garden. There are several other themed areas and you can easily spend several hours here.
The gift shop and small, live plant nursery offers a great variety of garden themed gift items.
If you have the time, stop to look around the Gordon House, located near the entry gate.
Nun/​

I drove down from Portland with friends for the day to enjoy a balmy 80 degree day at the end of May. It was my second visit in 10 years. The garden was too young and barren the first trip. I thought that by waiting a decade the garden would mature and would have time to become established. It is obvious that the location and lack of a cohesive master plan put this garden into financial ruin. The layout is chaotic and lacks a unified theme. The garden lacks focus and is trying to be too many things with too small a staff. The nursery trade organization that built the garden intended a fleet of volunteers to keep it looking manicured. The garden beds appeared weedy and neglected. New management has decided to focus on education for school kids, weddings, private parties, and the lodging guests at the top of the hill. This garden lacks vision as a plant showcase for which it was intended. The exception is the conifer garden created and maintained by the American Conifer Society Oregon Chapter. It is one of the finest in the United States I have ever seen.
The garden’s central axis has a European style formal slope that is meant to capture the coast range view from the Lodge and a water sculpture with a rose garden down below. The rose garden looks terrible and needs to be relocated for more sunshine and better air circulation. This is a tragedy in a state re-​known for it’s roses and rose growers.
The tram ride has become the preferred method of traveling through the garden and it circles the perimeter between the gate and lodge. It is the only thing not to miss. The tram guides breathe life to an otherwise confusing lay out.
The gift shop includes a café. It closed promptly at 4 during the hottest part of the day. That seemed like an odd time to close for hot and thirsty visitors. The only refreshments available were the refrigerator with bottles of soda, tea, and lemonade. Ironically it seemed like a large number of people suddenly appeared at the gift shop at this time of day. I suspect they too were looking for some cold refreshment.
This garden needs a strong director to make some harsh decisions about future growth and direction. Otherwise, this showcase will become a nightmare of what can go wrong with a large property and small budget.

My wife had the salmon. It smelled old and it wasn’t edible. She took one bite and had to spit it out into a napkin. They have margarine with the bread instead of butter. I expected a lot more out of a restaurant at such a beautiful garden. They should stick with flowers.

Despite having lived in the magnificent Pacific Northwest for over 25 years, and being a frequent visitor to the Portland area, I only became aware of the Oregon Garden’s existence about six months ago. For that, I cannot somewhat be forgiven as the Oregon Garden has only existed in its present state for under ten years.
But, it is here now, and it is growing. And, I recently got to make my very first visit.
My husband and I spent several hours — on a beautiful, sunny, early Spring day — roaming the beautiful Oregon Garden. It is actually several small gardens — a rose garden, a water garden, a NW garden, etc. — all sharing one amazing space.
While wandering, we had two main thoughts: If we lived closer, we would definitely become members of the Oregon Garden as we would want to visit often to see what each season would bring. (For example, there are several beautiful, healthy rose plants. But, at the time of our visit a few days ago, these had not yet started to flower. We are sure, though, that in a couple of months, these will be astounding, both in color and fragrance.) Also, as mentioned, the Oregon Garden is not all that old. In another ten years; as the plantings start to mature, its splendor will only grow.
For now, though, we’ll have to be content with less-than-we’d-really-like visits. We’ve already decided we need to come visit to see what the Christmas lights have to offer. And, I would not be surprised if a visit next Spring (and the one after that) are in the works.

The gardens are amazing and a great way to spend an afternoon. You can walk through the various sections (which I recommend) or take the tram (which I also recommend). The place is dog friendly so you can walk with your pups — there is even a garden full of pet friendly plantings. And so dog friendly that they invite you to bring the dogs on the tram (and mine are not little lapdogs). So on the tram we went. Happy we did as the commentary was witty and enjoyable and I would have missed a section or two on my own.
Definitely see the hobbit house, the train area, and the water garden. Or better yet, just plan to hit all the areas and find your favorite.
Can’t wait to return!

This place is a must! The walk around the gardens is very easy going and they are pretty wheelchair accessible as well. I highly recommend taking your family for an afternoon. The set up for Christmas is also lovely with a village filled with vendors for cocoa, hot buttered rum and some shopping even among the festival of lights. We have had a delightful time coming here. Bonus is at the front of the garden there is a Frank Lloyd Wright house you can tour which is pretty neat.

My boyfriend and I drove down to Silverton for the Christmas in the Garden event that The Oregon Garden holds after Thanksgiving and for most of December. $ 5 /​adult.
I’m giving it 4 stars because I definitely enjoyed the experience, but there are definitely ways that it could have been better. Most notably, yes there were a lot of lights, but the walk through them was rather short. There was a pretty decent walk to the majority of the light /​the Christmas Market, but there were only 2 – 3 small light displays and a rope light to guide your path. They should really consider adding displays along this walk to make the experience longer.
If you don’t want to walk for 5 minutes to get to the area where you walk through the Christmas lights, there is a tram that you can take. The tram stop actually had a giant leg lamp (a la The Christmas Story movie), and that was pretty unique,
Interspersed throughout the light display were tiny buildings with vendors of the Christmas Market selling their crafts. Again, this was a neat idea, but there were very few Christmas craft vendors. It was more like what you see normally during the year at other vendor events. I’ve definitely been to much better Christmas Craft Fairs, so I expected a little more.
Fire pits were located at various stops along the path. There was a section for younger kids to do crafts, a Santa visiting, a number of stands for warm beverages for purchase, and a larger enclosure with heat lamps where they sold foods. (We had dinner prior, so we didn’t try any of this.) The day that we went was actually the Oregon Civil War football game, and they had a TV showing the game, which was pretty neat. Checking their website, they host a number of smaller events on different days.
This was a fun Christmas activity, and it’s a good place to bring the family.

Went here for a conference and stayed the night at their resort. The gardens were really beautiful and only wish that when my mom was here I could have known about it to take her here. I spent a lot of time at the ponds looking for frogs, but the gardens in general were very nice.

.goodness this place was awesome! Seriously! I’m in Oregon, visiting family and my grandma (step-​grandma in law?) said that we absolutely had to go here, so we did.
Okay, if you’re going to see anything here and are any sort of nerd at all, you HAVE to go to the Children’s Gardens. They have a freaking Hobbit hole! That’s right, a little Hobbit Hovel! I, of course, fangirled a bit harder than necessary, but hey.
They also have amazing scenery and the coolest wildlife. They had the most adorable little baby ducklings and I wanted to smuggle one in my purse and take it home, but there were too many witnesses. And the gardens themselves are beautiful. We would have walked the entire five miles of paths, but it was way too hot and sunny and I am way too pale to be doing that. Sun and I are not friends.
But seriously, if you’re in Salem, Oregon and want a nice, peaceful, beautiful walk, go to these gardens. Please. You will be so happy.
Oh, and did I mention pets are MORE than welcome :)

Strolled around the Oregon Garden today with a good friend. I really enjoyed all the lilies in bloom and saw someone had brought their Westie (it’s so nice they are pet and child friendly) and have parts of the garden for children and pets. It was lovely and my friend picked up some plants which they sell there as well. They have a lot of water features which was pleasant, such as fountains and pools with Koi. We had a great time. And I picked up some lovely iris stationary in the gift shop.

We went to the Christmas Light /​Winter Market a couple of days before Christmas. It was pleasant enough but I felt that there weren’t nearly as many vendors as I would have liked to see. This time of year the garden is pretty dormant so the drive and the hassle to park and the lines wasn’t worth the return.
We’ve been there during the late spring and summer and have had much better experiences. I’m sure we’ll go again, but will pass on the winter market.

My husband, son, and I were planning a trip to Salem, Oregon and we were looking to see what there was to do nearby. My husband found a Groupon (buy one get one free) for the Oregon Garden. Admission is $ 11.00 and our 3 yr old son was free. The garden was created in 1997 with the Grand Opening in 2001 — the garden is relatively new but it is beautiful.
You pass a Frank Lloyd Wright house (tour $ 10) before hitting the garden itself.
When we arrived, a tram tour (approximately 25 minutes) was getting ready to start. This was actually the perfect way for us to learn about the garden before exploring it on our own. The tram tour guide was witty and friendly.
We walked for about another hour and a half and enjoyed it a great deal. Our son thought it was a lot of fun too. Restrooms were CLEAN and although the garden isn’t as mature as other ones, it has been done tastefully and with great planning. I was impressed that they had a children’s garden — there was an operating train, a hobbit hole, sand box, and a seating area with a sink. Not many gardens will accommodate families in this way and I thought it was a nice touch. There are several spots to use the bathroom or grab something to drink.
We had lunch at the resort (separate Unilocal review) and then headed home. Altogether, we spent about 3 hours there and it was a great way to spend a Friday morning.
Highly recommended!

We have been here twice — unfortunately both times in June. While we enjoyed the gardens, we were disappointed that they do not have a lot of «plantings». By that I mean numerous flowers in the same area for display. We found the flowers were individually scattered and not as colorful as many other gardens we visited.
Overall the entire garden — as flowers — seemed sparse — but the time of the year is probably a factor.
If you are in the area, I would highly recommend you stopping but I don’t feel it is worth a special trip.
On a side note — we stopped and had lunch at the garden and was looking forward to a bowl of soup — but they didn’t have it since «We haven’t had time to pick it up yet?» Note this was at 1:30 — when do they plan on getting the lunch soup? Sounds like they wait until the lunch crowd is gone, pick it up and since they now have leftovers — perhaps get a free lunch? Just wondering.