It’s always worth a visit to SE Portland’s Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden; this is especially true if you like rhododendrons, as they are omnipresent there.

16+ acres of lush forest and flowering plants from around the Northwest, and you will get a very different experience depending on what time of year you visit.

This refuge, located just west of Ridgefield, Washington, is home to a wide variety of plants and animals.

Even though it was in the heat of summertime, we still saw many animals in this botanical garden, including a few very happy and loud frogs.

A quick visit to Westmoreland Park, a lovely community park in SE Portland, Oregon…

Frolicking with tulips on a perfect spring morning. This is post two of two, and it features the 85mm photographs.

Frolicking with tulips on a perfect spring morning. This is post one of two, and it features the 50mm photographs.

On a cool drizzly early spring morning, there were plenty of beautiful sights in the garden, from honking geese to blooming flowers of various varieties (including, yes, rhododendrons). Oh, and one huge nutria.

An award-winning farm that ships irises all over world, with custom hybrid varieties that you cannot find anywhere else. If you are like me and love the smell of irises, this farm is a heavenly place to visit. Bring your nose!

If you like peonies, this is the place for you, not just to look at but to buy and take home.