Tours - 2017 International Master Gardener Conference

Lan Su Chinese Garden, with the city of Portland in the background.

Enhance your International Master Gardener Conference experience, by registering for a conference tour.

You can preview the tours, here. Register for tours with our official tour provider, America’s Hub World Tours. Tours that do not meet minimum attendance are subject to cancellation.

You must be registered for the conference, as an attendee or an accompanying person, in order to register for these exclusive 2017 IMGC tours.

Pre-Conference Tour (July 7-9)

A Land Formed by Volcanoes. [$697 per person, double occupancy; $195 single supplement] Once over the Cascade Mountains, Oregon changes from lush green to a place of startling beauty, carved by lava flows and shaped by high desert conditions. Stops include: Timberline Lodge, High Desert Museum, Dee Wright Observatory, Crater Lake National Park, Jetboat Excursion on the Rogue River, Master Gardener demonstration gardens and private gardens, and shopping in Eugene.

Monday Tours (July 10)

Full Day Tour: How We Get from Seed to Supper. [$120 per person] Meet the innovative breeders, growers, and crop scientists investigating methods for developing crops with superior culinary qualities. Stops include: Oregon State University vegetable trials with Lane Selman, Agricultural Researcher and founder of the Culinary Breeding Network; Gathering Together Farms – growers of the newest varieties; Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture – for a look at dry farming techniques; and 2Towns Cider – to see why varieties make a difference in the final product. *This tour will include several working farms with uneven paths and terrain; folks with limited mobility are encouraged to take that into consideration.
AM Half Day Tour: Eco-District Walking Tour. [$7 per person] You’ve made it to Portland! Now stretch your legs and join us for this walking tour of the Lloyd EcoDistrict. Highlights include Lloyd District and Oregon Convention Center Eco-Innovations, including rain gardens, organic matter recycling machine, solar array and more.
PM Half Day Tour: Streetcar Renaissance. [$46 per person] Find out why “The Pearl” is one of Portland’s most desirable neighborhoods. Stops include Pearl Parks, Tanner Springs Pocket Park, Jamison Square, Ecotrust Building, Gerding Theater, The Brewery Blocks. *This tour includes a streetcar and walking tour of the Pearl District—its parks and pedestrian spaces. This tour is wheelchair accessible.
AM Half Day Tour: Keeping Portland Weird, Explore Like a Local. ***DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, NEW TOUR TIME ADDED*** same tour itinerary, as below, but running from 8:30am-1pm.
PM Half Day Tour: Keeping Portland Weird, Explore Like a Local. ***TOUR IS FULL*** [$78 per person] See the Portland that has inspired the expression Keep Portland Weird. This off-the-beaten-path tour takes you into Portland’s neighborhoods where you’ll see the restaurants, specialty shops, quirky gardens, urban beekeepers, and food cart pods that reflect the true Portland. Stops include: Glen Andersen’s Bridgetown Bees, Nancyland Danger Garden, the Tiny House Hotel, Mississippi Street restaurants & shops (including Gail’s favorite, Paxton Gate).

Tuesday Tours (July 11)

Full Day Tour: ~~Welcome to the Willamette Valley.~~***TOUR IS FULL*** [$120 per person] There’s no growing region quite like the Willamette Valley! You’ll find over 170 different crops planted in this 150-mile long valley, from berries and vegetables to flowers and shrub. This region is home to over 500 wineries and produces almost all of the grass seed, Christmas trees, and hazelnuts sold in the US and Canada. Even with all that, it’s the ornamental nursery and greenhouse business that really rules the agricultural economy. On this tour we can only show you a small part of this bounty. We have tried to make it the most interesting and picturesque part, along with visits with the experts that make it all come together. Stops include: Heirloom Roses, Red Ridge Farms, lunch at the Hotel Oregon, Rogue Farms. *This tour will include several working farms with uneven paths and terrain; folks with limited mobility are encouraged to take that into consideration.
AM Half Day Tour: Pines to Pruners. [$63 per person] This tour includes two exceptional spots that gardeners visiting Oregon may miss. We’ll be visiting the conifer wonderland at Iseli Nursery, followed by a stop at Red Pig Tools. We’ll start our day with a stop at iconic Voodoo Doughnuts, for coffee and donuts.
PM Half Day Tour: Quintessential Northwest Nurseries. [$68 per person] Don’t wait for their lectures on Thursday! Talk one-on-one with two of the finest plantsmen in the Northwest (Maurice Horn and Sean Hogan), while holding their plants in your hand or standing next to them in the garden border. Joy Creek Nursery and Cistus Nursery are laboratories for what Northwest growing conditions will produce. Take the opportunity to see the natives, exotics, shrubs, and flowers that are most at home in the local growing conditions in acres of memorable display gardens and on plant benches.

Wednesday Tours (July 12)

Full Day Tour: A Geologic Wonder ~ The Columbia Gorge. [$77 per person] Stops include: Multnomah Falls, Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, Dalles Imagination Garden, Mid-Columbia Research & Extension Center, Central Gorge Japanese Heritage Garden, Bonneville Dam.
AM Half Day Tour: 100 Years Ago in Portland. [$55 per person] One hundred years ago, large areas of land were beginning to be carved out of forest and field for homes as the Portland population grew. It’s hard to picture what the area looked like, what plants were growing, what animals could be seen. Portland has tried to preserve pockets of that past, which allows locals and visitors to step back and re-discover it. Along with this natural past, we will visit one of the great homes of the era and the gem of a garden that took shape 100 years ago. Stops include: Tryon Creek State Park, Elk Rock Garden at the Bishop’s Close,
PM Half Day Tour: Portland’s South Waterfront Eco-District. [$46 per person] The tour – via streetcar and aerial tram – explores Portland’s more innovative green infrastructure, including discussion of storm water systems, bio-swales, eco-roofs, and LEED certified buildings. The tour will discuss eco-district strategies to further advance green city design. Stops include: Collaborative Life Sciences Building, Portland Aerial Tram, walking tour of the south waterfront. *This tour is wheelchair accessible.
~~PM Half Day Tour: History and Harvest to Table.~~ ***TOUR IS FULL***[$173 per person] Get a peek into the rich history of Portland at the Pittock Mansion, a magnificent home built for one of the founding families of a fledgling city. See how it survived time and storms into a new era for city visitors and local citizens to enjoy. Next, you’ll have a true farm-to-table dining experience at Meriwether’s Restaurant – one of only a handful of restaurants in the US who actually grow the produce that is served up. Before we head to Meriwether’s for a hyper-locally-sourced dinner, we will visit the restaurant’s 5-acre Skyline Farm. AND, we have one more very special treat before dinner. Meriwether’s owners have generously invited us to tour their private, “secret” ornamental garden, located adjacent to the farm. (Psst! Even well-known horticultural publications are sometimes denied a visit to this special garden.)

Thursday Tours (July 13)

Full Day Tour: Portland’s Urban Farm Scene. [$79 per person] We’ll tour a sampling of educational gardens and vegetable production systems serving the Portland area’s farmers markets, food banks, and restauranteurs. Stops include: Learning Garden Laboratory, home of the Multnomah County Master Gardener Demonstration Garden, the Beginning Urban Farming Apprenticeship, Portland State University’s Leadership for Sustainability Education Program
AM Half Day Tour: Eastside Garden Design. [$55 per person] See how Portland landscape designers do it. We’ll start at Portland Nursery. The Nursery’s over 600-foot perennial border shows off year-round bloom and textural interest to nursery visitors, neighborhood joggers, and casual pedestrians alike. Its trees, shrubs, and flowers give the lie to the term “hellstrip.” The courtyard is an ever-changing display of color combinations and seasonal interest, suited for the home landscape or for containers on a deck. Next we’ll visit two noted Portland garden designers and discover the true heart of the Pacific Northwest “look.” Mixing favorite native plants with their cultivated cousins, bright colors with soothing green, and necessary hardscapes with the needs of the plants
AM Half Day Tour: Three Iconic Portland Gardens ***DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND, NEW TOUR TIME ADDED*** same tour itinerary, as below, but running from 8:30am-2pm.
~~PM Half Day Tour: Three Iconic Portland Gardens.~~ ***TOUR IS FULL*** [$92 per person] Portland Japanese Garden, International Rose Test Garden and Lan Su Chinese Garden. These three gardens are some of the most visited and enjoyed gardens in Portland – and with good reason. Each has its own style and purpose, from the expansive views of 10,000 roses, at the International Rose Test Garden; to the tranquility of a scholar’s garden, at the Lan Su Chinese Garden; to the joining of Nature and viewer, at the Portland Japanese Garden. Experienced garden and horticulture guide enhance your experience while leaving you time to take it all in.

Post-Conference Tour (July 15-17)

Oregon Coast to Campus. [$561 per person, double occupancy. $278 single supplement] Spend some time on the beautiful Oregon Coast and on the campus of Oregon State University. Stops include: FIRST DAY, we will visit historic Astoria, Oregon, on the banks of the Columbia River (Astoria Column for unrivaled views and the Columbia River Maritime Museum); quaint beach town of Cannon Beach (Haystack Rock, an important nesting site for tufted puffins, cormorants, and other sea birds); Oswald State Park; overnight at the Shilo Inn in Tillamook. SECOND DAY: Tillamook County Learning Garden; Tillamook Cheese Fac tory (self-guided tour and samples); Newport (Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newpor t Bayfront, a unique ocean-front Master Gardener garden at the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse). We will overnight in ocean-side rooms at the Elizabeth Street Inn. FINAL DAY, we will drive to Corvallis, Oregon, home of Oregon State University (Oak Creek Center for Urban Horticulture and Food Science and Technology’s Pilot Plant, where we will learn about research and development in the realms of beer, wine and cheese). Next, we’ll head to downtown Corvallis, for time to lunch and shop on your own. After lunch, we’ll tour
a local cider house that grows and uses unique, horticultural crops for cider, before heading to Garland Nursery, a 4th-generation family nursery in the Willamette Valley. Our final tour stop will be in Albany, Oregon, to visit the historic Albany Carousel and Museum. Then it’s back to Portland for an overnight stay in a downtown hotel. Then it is back home, you go.

About Our Exclusive Tour Provider

The International Master Gardner Conference (IMGC) is proud to partner with America’s Hub World Tours to provide several tour options for 2017 IMGC in Portland, Oregon. Working with America’s Hub World Tours, we have selected discounted tour packages from Hub’s regular offerings, and have designed special tour packages for 2017 IMGC attendees. Tours will be offered throughout the conference. This offers you the most flexibility and cost savings when selecting additional activities while in Portland. We hope you enjoy your time as you get out and about to see the city!

Tea ceremony at the Portland Japanese Garden.