Rhododendron Garden at Point Defiance

On Friday our family visited the Rhododendron Garden at Point Defiance Park in Tacoma, Washington. Point Defiance is an all-around wonderful park, and the blooming of the rhododendrons at the Point Defiance Rhododendron Garden is one of the things our family looks forward to each Spring.

The rhododendron is Washington's state flower, and a lot of rhododendron bushes grow around here. Point Defiance's rhododendron garden provides a special place that showcases our beautiful state flower in a magnificent, natural setting. The rhododendron bushes stand amongst tall, amazing old-growth trees. The trees and the many pretty ferns, and tiny wildflowers, provide a lush, green setting, and a well-kept pathway travels through the garden (the Rhododendron Garden Loop is 658 yards). There are many brightly-colored, gorgeous rhododendrons, as well as many different types of rhododendrons, and some rhodies are really, really big. The Metro Parks website says that the "garden contains more than 500 plants, including 198 cultivated varieties and 75 species of rhododendrons." It's such a beautiful and peaceful place for a leisurely walk and to enjoy nature.

If you live near the Tacoma area, your family will surely enjoy a visit to Point Defiance Park's beautiful rhododendron garden. You'll find the rhododendron garden on Point Defiance's Five Mile Drive. Now is a great time to plan to visit because many of the rhododendrons are in full bloom and others will be very soon. You can see where the Rhododendron Garden is on this page which has a printable map that shows the trails at Point Defiance Park:

http://www.metroparkstacoma.org/page.php?id=239

For more information about the history of Point Defiance Park, here is a neat section on the Tacoma News Tribune's website:
http://thepark.thenewstribune.com/

[The pictures in each of the above paragraphs were taken by my older daughter.]

Here are some more pictures of the garden. You can click on each picture to see a bigger picture.