Award-Winning Design – Perennial Plant Association Honor Award and Association of Professional Landscape Designers Gold Award
Stratton Gardens - City of Hood River
This peaceful, small public park is tucked into the hillside overlooking downtown Hood River. It is located above Overlook Memorial Park, west of the public stairs. The garden often is a surprise to first-time visitors. Its serene atmosphere lends itself to enjoying a quiet lunch or a moment of respite. Take a walk through the park and up the stairs to absorb the fragrance and beauty of the roses and other flowers. Numerous benches around the perimeter of the park invite visitors to sit down and relax. Large oak trees shade part of the garden.
Stratton Gardens is owned by the City of Hood River and was dedicated on July 6, 2002. It is located directly above Overlook Memorial Park and bordered by Sherman Street on its south side. It can be rented for weddings from the City of Hood River, (Public Works / Parks & Recreation)
Design
Starting with a weed-strewn hillside, the 6,000 square foot park now consists of a formal layout of four symmetrical rose beds surrounded by traditional boxwood. The beds are based on a historical, European parterre pattern and arranged around a small central fountain. The lower part of the park is handicapped-accessible. The terraced hillside above, with its sweeping stone staircase, displays English-style plantings with Northwest elements. Stratton Gardens was designed by Marion McNew of Mount Hood Gardens. She also served as project manager for its construction.
Awards
Stratton Gardens and Marion McNew received two national First Place Landscape Design Awards in 2005, a Gold Award from the Association of Professional Landscape Designers and an Honor Award from the Perennial Plant Association.
For more detailed information about the construction of the park, please refer to linked articles:
“A New Park”, H. R. Hood River News, March 29, 2002
“City’s newest park takes shape”, Hood River News, June 15 2002
“City to dedicate new garden park Saturday”, Hood River News, July 3, 2002
“Stratton Rose Garden opens”, Hood River News, July 10, 2002
“A New Sign for Garden”, Hood River News, April 12, 2006
“Gardens for Public Spaces”, Gorge Living, summer 2006
Please Note: We are not maintaining this park, and there have been some issues. A renovation of the plantings may happen in the near future.
Funding
The park was financed by an endowment from the late Brick Stratton, who passed away in 2001. The fund also provides for the garden’s ongoing maintenance.
Before: The future Stratton Gardens site, still a pile of rocky debris; with the Columbia River in the background, February 2002
Before: Before view, looking north, February 2002
Before: Contemplating the future Stratton Gardens, with Sherman Street above, February 2002
Before: Construction of Stratton Gardens has begun, April 2002
After: Inviting Stratton Gardens in June of 2013 Photography by Susan Ballier
After: Looking down at Stratton Gardens in its flower bounty, June 2009
After: Fragrant lavenders frame the rose garden, June 2013. Photography by Susan Ballier
After: Stratton Gardens visitors enjoying quiet conversation, June 2009
After: A view of the edged four parterre rose beds, June 2013. Photography by Susan Ballier
After: The central basalt column fountain forms the focal point of the garden, June 2013. Photography by Susan Ballier
Sampling Serenity at Stratton Gardens in Hood River, Oregon
429 steps lead up from State Street to the heights of Hood River. They’re steep. So, starting out, you can’t tell that the first landing shelters a Lilliputian-sized park that tourists with climacophobia will never see. I call it the Hidden Haven of Hood; it’s name is Stratton Gardens. How can you put so much peace in a park the size of a squash court? By design: curving brick walks between rose beds converge on a circle with an enigmatic stone fountain. Wooden benches say: sit. The view of town and the Columbia River say, stay awhile. I expect magic things to happen here. I’m sure someone proposed and someone accepted right here. I also think people discover the meaning of life here. Which is: take a moment to sit. Here. Now. At Stratton Gardens.
Writer: Peter Herring | Photo: Peter Herring
