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Meta Sequoia Trees (aka Dawn Redwoods or the fossil tree) were once thought extinct until living trees were discovered in inner China in the early1940’s.

The seeds were collected and shared with arboretums all over the globe, including ours right here in Portland. You’ll recognize these dawn redwoods on either side of Mt Hood in the background of this photo. They’re deciduous, so don’t panic if they loose their needles in the fall. Thanks to Doug Weir for the photo!

The Walpole Garden, a collaboration with our partners at Portland Parks and Recreation, is named after the noted American botanical illustrator Frederick Andrews Walpole who built a house at Eagle Point (300 ft to the north of the garden) in 1895. We are gradually planting many of the native plants he illustrated for the US Botanical Garden before his untimely death of typhoid in 1905.

Thanks to our April 2024 Volunteers who working like surgeons, carefully removing the invasive ivy while simultaneously protecting and saving our native plants. Now our native plants will have room to spread and thrive

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The Walpole Garden artwork covering the utility box was applied Tuesday morning, April 9th. Many thanks to Northwest Natural Gas for installing this and partnering with Friends of Terwilliger whose vision is to showcase these century-old illustrations for all to see.

The Frederick Andrews Walpole Garden is a public garden created in the strip of land between SW Terwilliger Boulevard and SW Hamilton Terrace with spectacular, unobstructed views of the Willamette Valley and Mount Hood. The garden is named after Frederick Andrews Walpole, a major US botanical illustrator hired by the US government who settled in Portland and built his home at Eagle Point in 1894.

The project has been developed by the Friends of Terwilliger and Portland Parks & Recreation over the past six years: reflecting our volunteer capacity, funds raised, and exploring what works in the area.

If you look closely, you’ll see that our native trilliums are bursting with their flowers and showing us that spring is definitely here.

2023 is now in the rear-view mirror and it’s time to congratulate ourselves for our restoration accomplishments.

Were you a part of our native planting event in December 2023 at Eagle Point in the Terwilliger Parkway?

Friends of Terwilliger wants to thank the twenty+ volunteers, photographed here, who came to help us plant natives in the Eagle Point area of Terwilliger Parkway.

We couldn’t have done it without all of our tenacious and dedicated volunteers! THANK YOU!!!

Friends of Terwilliger (FOT) has been working with Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R) for a few years helping to construct a “nature patch” on the flat of Eagle Point, just off Terwilliger Blvd. at the Hamilton Terrace intersection. Eagle Point is a 1 acre plot that FOT helped alert the city when it was for sale. It was purchased in 2013 and added to Terwilliger Parkway and is now in the public’s hands.

A BIG thank you to our volunteers who showed up to tackle the ivy in George Himes Park, along the Terwilliger Parkway.

Hillsdale-based Scout Troop 1 offered their muscles and tenacity at Friends of Terwilliger’s restoration site in the SW Bancroft right-of-way on EarthDay 2023.

You may have noticed on-going work here:

Friends of Terwilliger have been working with Portland Parks and Recreation (PP&R) for the past five years to restore a narrow strip (~120ft wide) of ~1 acre parkland centered around the Bancroft St right-of-way just below Terwilliger Parkway and the Marquam Hill hospitals.

Terwilliger Parkway got the best of both worlds last month! Volunteers put in native plants and had time to also do ivy removal! How good is that?

A long-term project to establish a native plant demonstration garden, based upon Frederick Walpole’s illustrations of Oregon Native Plants, is about to begin in Historic Terwilliger Parkway on either side of the SW Bancroft St right-of-way.

Students and coaches from Central Catholic High School gave a few hours of their time to help us clear some ivy near Duniway Track.

Our native Lupine are thriving in Historic Terwilliger Parkway!

We had a tenacious group pulling ivy Saturday, May 21st. We freed 12 trees and cleared 200 sq feet of the forest floor to allow our native plants room to grow.

This year marked the 18th year of No Ivy Day, an annual event put on by Portland Parks and Recreation, to rid our natural areas and parks of invasive ivy. Friends of Terwilliger was a co-sponsor.

60+ volunteer hours were spent clearing and planting 200 native plants in the Bancroft St. right-of-way last month. And that’s only the start!

Our October restoration work party was well attended and the weather was cooperative too.

Ever wonder what Bioswales are and what they do? Check out this fantastic video made by our partners at the Westside Watershed Resource Center.

Here’s how we can continue to remember and honor Portland Commissioner Nick Fish.

It’s only March and already Friends of Terwilliger’s dedicated volunteers have planted hundreds of native plants.

Do you know what the state flower of Oregon is?

It is this beautiful woodland native plant, Oregon Grape, Mahonia aquifolium, that can be found growing along Terwilliger Parkway and throughout most of the city. Oregon designated the Oregon grape blossom as the official state flower in 1899. The following description of this remarkable plant has been adapted from the Portland Nursery website (http://portlandnursery.com/plants/natives/mahonia.shtml).

Twenty years ago, we began partnering with a Multnomah County program called Alternative Community Service (ACS) for on-the-ground restoration efforts in the Terwilliger Parkway natural areas.