Gerdemann Botanic Preserve

Gerdemann Botanic Preserve A rare plant preserve, open by appointment only. Public footpath, starting behind the Earthworks Art Gallery in Yachats, is open year-round, dawn to dusk.

T'is the season for intriguing rosy blossoms at the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve in Yachats, Oregon -- where exotic plants...
05/04/2026

T'is the season for intriguing rosy blossoms at the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve in Yachats, Oregon -- where exotic plants from around the globe are nestled amidst native Sitka spruce, Western hemlock and Western red cedar that grow along the beautiful Oregon Coast. Come visit and be enchanted by our huge specimens of Crinodendron, Grevillea, Brugmansia, Embothrium, Telopea and dozens of other genera. Join us for a tour this Thursday May 7th at 11 am! Please sign up (required) beforehand at gerdemanngarden at gmail dot com. Tours are also available on other days, upon advance request.

Here at the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve, we are celebrating five years of working with Peter Clusener—and feeling incredi...
04/26/2026

Here at the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve, we are celebrating five years of working with Peter Clusener—and feeling incredibly grateful. His thoughtfulness has been exactly what this special botanical garden needs, where the conservation easement protects delicate native treasures including Trillium ovatum, banana slugs, newts, and salamanders.
Pruning can be a challenge here at the Preserve. We simultaneously want to maintain existing woody plants (trees and shrubs), bring in just enough light for wildflowers to thrive... AND keep safe the tender trilliums, skunk cabbage, and everything living beneath! Peter does this work with remarkable care—no wildflower harmed, no nest disturbed, even during bird nesting season. He is a model of professionalism, care and discretion, as an arborist, and we cannot thank (and recommend!) him enough.

Glowing up the woodland on an overcast spring day is Rhododendron dahhousiae, planted by Jim Gerdemann some time around ...
04/20/2026

Glowing up the woodland on an overcast spring day is Rhododendron dahhousiae, planted by Jim Gerdemann some time around 1981. Sited just across the path from the early-blooming and much-loved Rhododendron 'Coastal Spice', this unique species with slender, slightly fuzzy foliage has just begun to unfurl its blossoms with the onset of warmer weather in Yachats. Learn more about this wondrous rhododendron through the website of the Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden: https://rhodygarden.org/species-profile-r-dalhousiae/

Greetings from the Camellia Festival in Newberg, Oregon! For the first time, our magnificently showy reticulata camellia...
04/12/2026

Greetings from the Camellia Festival in Newberg, Oregon! For the first time, our magnificently showy reticulata camellias — planted by Jim Gerdemann in the ‘80 — were in bloom in Yachats in time to be entered in the competition for best flower in the reticulata hybrids category! We had intense competition and our flowers endured powerful winds, beating rain, hail and erratic temperatures in recent days… but these sumptuous blossoms sailed through these challenges and Camellia ‘Curtain Call’ reached the honors table. Not too shabby for our first entry! Reticulata camellias are generally not cold hardy in the Valley so come to Yachats during their bloom season in March/early April to see these ebullient treasures in flower!

The Gerdemann Botanic Preserve in Yachats, OR celebrates the arrival of bloom season of Rhododendron 'Else Frye' -- a de...
03/23/2026

The Gerdemann Botanic Preserve in Yachats, OR celebrates the arrival of bloom season of Rhododendron 'Else Frye' -- a delicately fragrant madenii hybrid with beautiful, exfoliating bark and glowing, Easter candy-colored blossoms that virtually sparkle amidst the deep green temperate rainforest. Please join us this Thursday at 11 am for a docent-led tour to see Else Frye Rhododendron, and so much more! (With luck, we'll also catch the first blossoms of R. 'California Gold', another perfumed madenni hybrid.) Sign up required at gerdemanngarden at gmail dot com. Image: Andreea Ghetie

It may still be late winter, but the Gerdemann Garden in Yachats, Oregon has officially launched into bloom season! Betw...
02/17/2026

It may still be late winter, but the Gerdemann Garden in Yachats, Oregon has officially launched into bloom season! Between the winter iris, the early rhododendron and camellias and the exquisite magnolias erupting into flower, there’s so much to see! Join us for a tour — by appointment only — exploring the private garden beyond the public footpath. To arrange a visit, please email gerdemanngarden at gmail dot com.

The warm weather woke up the winter bloomers at the garden and the gardeners would love to share with you the joy of see...
01/21/2026

The warm weather woke up the winter bloomers at the garden and the gardeners would love to share with you the joy of seeing winter flowers and smelling the fragrance of a very special rhododendron planted by Jim Gerdemann more than 40 years ago! Join us beyond the public footpath for the first casual tour of the year at 11 am, tomorrow, Thursday. This is a hike that starts from behind the art galleries, no sign up required. No pets allowed at the botanic preserve. As the weather allows, we will announce more tours or you can schedule a tour by appointment by writing to [email protected]

There are so many large-leafed Rhododendron blooming in Yachats at the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve! Some of them have los...
03/31/2025

There are so many large-leafed Rhododendron blooming in Yachats at the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve! Some of them have lost their labels in the winds of time; others may have been replanted years ago and are not what the original map indicates. Rhododendron experts are welcome to proffer identification!

This intensely bright red Rhododendron strigillosum (芒刺杜鹃) is now blooming on the public footpath at the Gerdemann Botan...
03/15/2025

This intensely bright red Rhododendron strigillosum (芒刺杜鹃) is now blooming on the public footpath at the Gerdemann Botanic Preserve in Yachats, Oregon. Native to the provinces of Sichuan and Yunnan in China, where it grows at 5,200–12,500 ft elevation, it seems to relish the coastal environment of Yachats, where it grows to 18' or more in time.

Rhododendron strigillosum blooms so early (March–April) that it isn't considered reliable in more frosty climates, and is still fairly uncommon in cultivation. Come see it bloom... or return a bit later in spring, when it finishes flowering, to see the extraordinary transformation it goes through when long, slender new leaves emerge vertically from the fuzzy red bud scales, creating a remarkably ornamental look later in spring.

Gerdemann Botanic Preserve has officially entered the magical spring bloom season... right on the heels of a series of ...
03/03/2025

Gerdemann Botanic Preserve has officially entered the magical spring bloom season... right on the heels of a series of frosty nights followed by windy, warm, wet thunderstorms! Photos below are from the public footpath through the Preserve, which is open dawn to dusk (no pets allowed, to protect wildlife). Big-leafed rhododendrons including R. irroratum ‘Polka Dot’, unfurling Gunnera ("dinosaur food") leaves; and lovely native Tolmiea menziesii and a hybrid Mahonia m looking lush from the spring rains. All photos by Andreea Ghetie.

Address

US/101
Yachats, OR
97498

Telephone

(503) 442-1247

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