Berry Botanic Garden - Collections

Collections

The garden continued to develop after it became a nonprofit organization. Its major collections included primulas (commonly called primroses), many of which started from seeds from Asian plant expeditions augmented by international seed exchanges. Primroses are found mainly in mountainous parts of the Northern Hemisphere. Berry produced several varieties of her own including "Snow Lady" and "Purple Spark".

Another major collection consisted of high-mountain alpine and subalpine plants. Keeping the most delicate specimens in cold frames or in log beds behind the house, Berry expanded her collection through exchanges with other gardeners, her own expeditions, and from plant explorers in Asia. The log-bed section of the garden gave way after 1980 to a rock garden with an alpine bog. Insiders' Guide to Portland calls it "the largest public rock garden on the West Coast".

Rhododendrons made up a third major collection. Many of the seeds, acquired from plant explorers in Asia, began their lives on the Berry family's prior home in Irvington and were transplanted to the garden. Berry's collection grew to include more than 2,000 specimens representing 160 species. Dwarf species grew in the rock garden, and two species, R. decorum and R. calophytum, formed a forest of more than 150 mature plants.

Native plants from the Pacific Northwest comprised a fourth major collection, which included about 200 of the roughly 5,000 native plants in the region. These plants were found in all parts of the garden, especially along a native-plant trail, in the rock garden, and in the water garden.

Lilies made up a fifth major collection started in 1979 when the garden's board of directors decided to provide sanctuary for many species of the genus Lilium found in the wild in the Northwest and along the West Coast. The lilies were stored as seed or planted in suitable locations throughout the garden.