Of Portland’s many notable public gardens, the one most cherished by Oregon plant geeks is Leach Botanical Garden—for its horticulture, but also its story. The largely self-trained botanist Lilla Leach became a Northwest hero for her discovery of several previously unknown species in the state’s Siskiyou Mountains. One earned her name, Kalmiopsis leachiana, a find that led to the creation of the 180,000-acre Kalmiopsis Reserve, one of the most botanically diverse areas in the U.S. From the 1930s to early ’70s, she and husband John Leach, a pharmacist, transformed a five-acre former lumber mill, 12 miles from central Portland, into a home for themselves and a casually sumptuous array of some 3,000 native and exotic species.
Gifted to the city in the ’70s, the Leaches’ storied house and garden became a magnet for plant-loving volunteers. But with the acquisition of 10 additional acres, it turned into a growing drain and question mark in the city budget. So in 2014, Portland Parks & Recreation (PPR) released an RFQ for a modest master plan update and a $1.3 million new entry garden and parking lot. The major agenda: give Leach a new, more prominent front door and a push toward stronger admission- and event-driven financial performance. Top local and regional landscape firms applied, but Richard Hartlage and Sandy Fischer of the newly formed Seattle firm Landscape Morphology “threw a bold schematic design on the table,” according to PPR project manager Ross Swanson.
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