Spring Backyard Garden Tour | Portland, Oregon (Zone 8b, April)
This video was filmed in mid-April 2025 in my NE Portland backyard—a 50×100 foot city lot I've been gardening for 25 years. I think of it as my living laboratory: the place where I test plant combinations, work through design ideas, and figure out what actually performs.
In this walkthrough we move through the whole back garden—from the shaded north side to the sunnier south border—taking in the garden rooms, the foliage combinations, and the color connections that knit a collector's garden together. Mid-April in Zone 8b means most of the interest is still coming from foliage and form, with a lot of flower power queued up and just about to go.
Plants I grow, and the combinations I've worked out over the years, are documented on eGardenGo—with descriptions, photos, and planting ideas you can put to use in your own garden.