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The botanical garden became a city property open to the public in the ’80s, but it’s operated by a nonprofit. Last year the city halted its financial contributions.
PORTLAND, Ore. — After losing critical city funding, a beloved East Portland botanical garden is at risk of shutdown, and the community is rallying to save it.
The Leach Botanical Garden, also known as “Portland’s secret garden,” is tucked away in the trees of East Portland’s Pleasant Valley neighborhood.
“There’s a lot of new growth, and flowers are just starting to come up,” said Eric Vines, interim executive director of Leach Garden Friends. “The idea is to give people a sense of the canopy of the forest.”
The garden was created by a prominent Portland couple around their home in the 1930s. They willed the property to Portland Parks & Recreation in 1972, with the stipulation that it become a public garden within 10 years.
That happened when the city partnered with the nonprofit Vines now leads, and it opened to the public in 1983. These days, it costs about $1.2 million a year to operate.
“It’s different from a park in that it is cultivated,” Vines explained. “The plantings here are very specific and special to the Pacific Northwest.”
Though Leach Garden Friends raises most of those funds, the city of Portland cut its $350,000 share last year, ending its contract with the nonprofit.
“By December, it was abundantly clear that we weren’t going to make it,” said Vines.
Now, the nonprofit is laying off 11 people — half its staff. Among the employees on the chopping block is Jami Lebaron. She directed community programs, like honeybee hikes for children and horticulture classes. It was her dream job, she said.
“It all felt sudden,” Lebaron said. “It’s a lot of sadness, I think, that we were just getting through. Layoffs haven’t happened yet; there is still kind of this countdown.”
That countdown is being felt by the entire gardening team — among them, Hilliary Montero.
“(Trying) to get some plants installed ahead of the layoffs,” Montero said. “Obviously, it’s really sad to see all of the work that’s been happening here over the last 30 years coming kind of to a standstill.”
“Oh, very sad,” agreed Annie Winn, volunteer manager. “I mean, I just cried on the way to work today … we have a great staff.”
To stay afloat, the nonprofit needs to raise $50,000 each month for the next five months, all while urging the city to restore its funding in next year’s budget. Portland City Council will decide that in June.
“It would be a shame for it to not continue to exist in this format, but our whole society is reckoning with a lot of these tough choices right now,” said Vines, “so we are one story among many — but we are doing our best to try and keep this one to be a happy story.”
Staff say that the best thing the community can do is visit the garden, which asks for a small fee for entry. People can also become volunteers.
When KGW was there Thursday, there were a number of people visiting for the first time after hearing the news of the cuts.
A Portland Parks and Recreation spokesperson said that it is trying to find available resources to preserve the garden, acknowledging how important it is for the East Portland community.