Leach Botanical Garden

Leach Botanical Garden is a unique urban gem offering a place to explore and enjoy nature in outer Southeast Portland. The garden is situated on a free-flowing creek and features an aerial tree walk, a four-season pollinator garden, a variety of unique collections, including ferns, camellias, and spring ephemerals, meandering pathways, and many plants native to the Pacific Northwest.

Lilla and John Leach purchased the garden’s original 4.17 acres on Johnson Creek in 1932 and created a home and garden they called "Sleepy Hollow." Lilla was a well-respected botanist who found several plants previously unknown to western science, and John was a very civic-minded pharmacist. Lilla and John left their beloved home to Portland Parks & Recreation with the stipulation that it become a public garden within 10 years, or the property was to go to the YMCA. A group of concerned citizens lobbied the City to keep the property, but the transfer to the YMCA was set to take place when Portland Commissioner Charles Jordan decided to look at the garden before signing it away. After visiting the garden, he called it a “little jewel.” A plan was created to manage the garden with a non-profit partner organization, Leach Garden Friends. Leach Botanical Garden opened to the public in 1983.