About Us

Leach Botanical Garden offers immersive, restorative, and educational experiences in a unique landscape of native plants and horticultural collections to build community, celebrate nature, and inspire environmental stewardship.

A Welcoming Space for All

Garden for all images of different people

Leach Botanical Garden, founded in 1936 and located in southeast Portland, embodies the spirit of the Pacific Northwest. The 17-acre garden is spread across two levels and includes many different types of spaces for gathering, observing, learning, and relaxing.

Pathways wind through stands of 80 foot tall Douglas fir trees. Oregon grape and sword ferns are mixed in with over 2,000 varieties of plants, and moss covered stones and branches glow green around every turn.

image courtesy of tamra tiemeyer

Portland's Secret Garden

Often described as Portland’s secret garden, this historic site offers visitors a space of refuge within the city limits. Whether you take a stroll to find the 4 heritage trees, book a wedding or attend a tour, art workshop, or other community program, anyone looking for an accessible outdoor experience should visit the Garden.

Daily operations are overseen by a staff of over 20 individuals and 50+ regular volunteers working together to maintain the historic and evolving plant collections, provide visitor services to over 32,000 people per year, oversee private event rentals, and host a diverse array of over 100 public programs annually.

image courtesy of KMT photos

Partnership with Portland Parks & Recreation

Leach Botanical Garden was donated to the city of Portland in 1980. Shortly afterwards, the non-profit organization Leach Garden Friends was formed to steward the space and keep it open for local and out of town visitors to enjoy. Over time, the original 4.7 acre space increased in size as adjacent properties were purchased and integrated into the Garden.

land acknowledgement About John & Lilla Leach

Our Mission: Building Community, Celebrating Nature

Leach Botanical Garden offers immersive, restorative, and educational experiences in a unique landscape of native plants and horticultural collections to build community, celebrate nature, and inspire environmental stewardship.

Vibrant Environment, Thriving Community, Healthy Organization - View our Strategic Framework
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Situated along a free-flowing creek in outer SE Portland, the garden is an inviting, restorative urban greenspace. The Upper Garden features an entry plaza, aerial tree walk, four-season pollinator garden, and basalt stone sculptural installation. The hillside and lower garden feature native plants, historic Leach plant collections, meandering, wooded trails, and riparian area pathways along Johnson Creek.
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From Sleepy Hollow to Leach Botanical Garden

Sleepy Hollow sign at the lower entrance

The “Sleepy Hollow '' estate that John and Lilla Leach lovingly created and tended for over 36 years was donated to Portland Parks in 1980. Thanks to the newly elected Parks Commissioner, Charles Jordan, the estate was retained by Parks, and a grass-roots, non-profit organization was quickly formed to work in partnership with Portland Parks to care for the garden and ensure its future.

The original 4.7 acre property has grown to almost 17 acres with adjacent land purchased over the years by Portland Parks. Leach Garden Friends works closely with Parks to ensure that the unique property remains a well-cared for gem that both serves and is treasured by the larger community. Today 20 staff members along with a dedicated group of volunteers care for the property, offer events and tours, handle garden maintenance, work to replenish native plant habitat, engage under served communities with hands-on learning, and provide visitor services to more than 30,000 people per year.

About John & Lilla Leach

Partnership with Portland Parks & Recreation

The partnership between Leach Garden Friends and Portland Parks has endured for 40 years. Portland Parks is now in the process of phasing out its pass-through funding of garden operations, necessitating the creation of an endowment for garden operations, and requiring an entrance fee for the first time in the Garden’s history.

land acknowledgement

banner image Ty & Chey
sleepy hollow image tamra tiemeyer