Joggers and walkers using the paths along the south side of Wilshire Park may have noticed evidence of some recent planting. On March 15, about a dozen devoted volunteers helped Portland Parks & Recreation tuck a number of native ferns and shrubs back into the soil, replacing the ones done in by last year’s heat dome. Unfortunately, just a few days after the replanting, Portland reached 75 degrees – breaking the previous high temperature record for that date. How the new plants fared is yet to be determined.
In the nearby NatureSpace, passersby should look for the unusual red and white flowers of native fringe cup, Tellima grandiflora, and the aptly named backward facing blooms of the inside-out flower, Vancouveria hexandra.
If June also proves especially warm, one may catch a glimpse of a newly hatched yellow swallowtail butterfly animating the space as it comes by to sip lunch from these and other blossoms. These animated jewels have spent the fall and winter months as caterpillars and chrysalides in the nearby oaks which, incidentally, are the hosts of more butterfly species than almost any other tree.
Wilshire Park Serves Kids and Neighbors at Fellowship Gathering
No one on a casual stroll through Wilshire Park on March 30 could have missed the colorful festival atmosphere around the children’s playground and under the park shelter. There, the One Hope Fellowship church was blessed with outstanding spring weather for its third annual come-one-come-all Holy Saturday celebration at the park. Two huge inflatable trampolines and a large inflatable slide entertained scores of kids while church members, neighbors, and curious passersby chatted and lined up for salads, cold cuts, and frankfurters hot off the grill, manned by cheerful barbecuers.
If you missed the event this year, consider marking your calendar for April 20, 2025. Photo by Peter Mogielnicki.