The parade of colors makes fall a special time to visit the Japanese Garden. But the garden is beautiful beyond the changing seasons. With four visits in four weeks, I had ample opportunity to look away from the brilliant yellows and fiery reds and enjoy some of the more serene parts of the garden. Here are some of the highlights.

(Click the image to go to the full gallery.)

This year, after our cold and wet spring, every seasonal milestone seems to have been 2-3 weeks later than past years. My first fall color visit to the Japanese Garden matched up with near-peak colors last year, but this year had just the first hints of yellow among the greens. With garden visits in four successive weeks, I was able to watch the fall colors as they changed. Here are examples of some of the transitions, with photos from October 21 through November 9. Click on the gallery to scroll through all the photos. Below the gallery, there are pairs of similar views from different dates, and you can drag the arrows right and left to compare each set of two images.

Other galleries from the Japanese Garden this year: Fall Color Highlights, and soon, Timeless Scenes (images from the garden this fall that aren’t focused on the showboat seasonal colors.)

(Click on the gallery to scroll through the photos. The comparisons are below the gallery.)

Here are the same photos, paired up for comparison. Drag the arrows right and left.

This year I was able to visit the Portland Japanese Garden four times in four weeks, October 21 – November 9, 2022, to enjoy watching the changing fall colors light up the familiar spaces. Here is a gallery of some of my favorite photos from these visits.

In an upcoming post, I’ll match up scenes to show the transitions over the weeks. And yet another post will share images from this local treasure less tied to the changing seasons.

(Click the image to go to the full gallery.)