January 15, 2001
Visited the Gardens of Elk Rock at Bishops Close, my favorite place in Portland (located in the kind of gorgeous, old money neighborhood that would beg my mother's question, "Do they let Jews in?").

Am on standby for the blooming of their Stachyurus praecox -- not scheduled till March -- but between now and then, the place is completely intoxicating. I come here to remind myself just why I'm in the Northwest, where horticultural hedonism is not limited to seasons in the sun.

Dogs are allowed at Bishops Close, no small reason why I adore this place. Here's Della with the first of the so-called stinking hellebores, Helleborus foetidus, in bloom.