Leach Botanical Garden, updated

Somehow it's been—gulp—7 years since I last visited the Leach Botanical Garden. The pollinator and habitat garden (above), as well as the fireside terrace and tree walk (below) are all new. An upper section of the garden, a propagation area, and a sweet little rock garden are all gone to make room for the new additions.
To be fair the new additions are much more visitor friendly to the average person, as is the reoriented entryway with a sizable parking lot and a nice bathroom. Of course, there's now a fee to enter, but at just $5 that shouldn't stop most people, and if it does, well they've got a great "Garden for All admissions program" and no one will ever be turned away. How cool is that?
The tree walk wasn't as dramatic as I'd hoped for, but later I heard the sounds of kids enjoying the heck out of it, so I suppose the target isn't really me.

Tetrapanax papyrifer
This is one of the first manzanita I saw upon starting to garden here in Portland. I'm thrilled it is still here, Arctostaphylos manzanita ssp. laevigata.
The house itself as well as the terraces around it were closed when I visited. The house is about to undergo a re-roofing project. It needs it badly!
I pray they don't disturb this Dasylirion wheeleri which has been right in this spot as long as I've been visiting.
Ditto for it's friends, the opuntia.
And the agaves! Although I am shocked they're not larger, this is about the same size they were the last time I stopped by.
Agave toumeyana var. bella
Did you catch the set of four pipe stands in the upper photos? They must be used to put a winter cover in place?
Looking up at the tree walk.
And at the under-utilized rock garden.
Shiny new arbors.
The land to the far east of the property is fenced and part of the "Back 5 Acres" project.
It looks like there are interesting things going on back there.
Now I've walked down to the lower part of the garden, beneath the house. This is the area referred to on the map (at the end of this post) as the riparian zone, the creek is just to the left of this photo.
Oh how I want to plant something in those logs!

Ferns baby!
I sat down the oak leaves I'd been collecting to take the photo above, they looked so nice there that I left them.
If I had a stone bench I would definitely want a fern planting pocket.
Wouldn't you?
A Chamaecyparis lawsoniana 'Wissel's Saguaro' perhaps?
Walking back up the hillside now I noticed the arctostaphylos bark was highlighted by the sun, naturally I had to snap another photo.
And what's this? A "contemplative place" installation, according to the map.

Oh and while you might think that's a lawn, it's not. It's a "gathering green"...
Yes I am having fun with the names that seem to take themselves a little too seriously.
As I headed back to my car—having enjoyed this walk through the updated Leach Botanical Garden—these pots caught my eye, and I thought back to the ones I spotted in other parts of the garden. I suspect this is the work of Bob Hyland, Leach Garden Vice President and owner of Contained Exuberance. Nice work Bob!