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Parks and Gardens

Play area in John Luby City Park, Portland, featuring trees, swings, a merry-go-round, and a boat sunken into the ground and filled with dirt.
A swing hanging below Portland, Oregon concrete road supports in an area dense with foliage.
Stations of the Cross statue in Portland, Oregon’s Grotto viewed from behind a thick screen of branches.
A park bench with trees behind it in foggy expanse of grass along the Glendoveer Nature Trail in Portland, Oregon.
Two pairs of trees with entwined trunks in brick patio with bamboo fences inside Portland, Oregon’s Japanese Garden.
Four rocks and tree trunk in raked sand in front of low rock wall inside Portland, Oregon’s Japanese Garden.
Steps rising with trees and stone lantern inside Portland, Oregon’s Japanese Garden.
The lower part of a tree centered between a path of concrete blocks and a bamboo fence inside Portland, Oregon’s Japanese Garden.
Tree with branches stretching over rocks and water in Portland, Oregon’s Japanese Garden.
Bench set in front of dense tropical foliage in Hawai’i Tropical Bioreserve and Garden in Papaikou.
Trunk in foreground diagonally intersecting slide and swing set in woods in Marshall Park, Portland, Oregon.
Blossoming tree next to bench and stone pathway, with more blossoms scattered on ground, inside The Grotto in Portland, Oregon.
Sunlit bench in upper left corner on grassy expanse with puddle reflecting trees on right.
Three benches beside Sand and Stone Garden in Portland’s Japanese Garden, with one wet bench reflecting a tree.
Leaf-covered picnic table in leaf-covered expanse of grass, in Portland, Oregon’s East Delta Park.
Edge of water with newly planted grasses in park located at Tanner Springs in downtown Portland, Oregon.
Round glass patio table reflecting light and foliage, with chairs around it and vase with plant cuttings on top.
Stone walkway leading to bench and row of bushes in Portland Oregon’s Japanese Garden.
Bandelier National Monument rock wall containing multiple circular crevices with log bench in front.
A long wooden slab bench on a foliage-lined path in Sarah P. Duke Gardens in Durham, North Carolina.
Buildings reflected on waters of pond with plants and rocks in Portland’s Lan Su Chinese Garden.

I’m not a gardener, but spending time in parks and gardens offers a break for rest and reflection. They’re invaluable to busy urban environments, and equally wonderful in wilderness settings. These images are meant to convey a sense of the calm I feel in these spaces.