Video of Tryon Creek State Natural Area during the Trillium Festival
Updated 11/14/2022
As the gray Pacific Northwest winter stretches into February, I tend to become weirdly fixated on…flowers. The first signs of hellebores and late winter-blooming camellias around our Portland neighborhood seem like the breath of life. A couple years ago, I spent a chilly November troweling up our sidewalk planting strip to bury dozens of crocus bulbs. I dreamed of the February day when their royal purple colors would push up out of the frozen earth.
In the forests in and around Portland, it’s the Pacific Trillium (Trillium ovatum) that rules the early spring. Huge white trillium flowers unfurl from mossy forest floors in early March, making trilliums in Oregon among the showiest (and first) native wildflowers of the year.
In today’s post, I’ll share more about trilliums in Oregon and one of the best places to see the Pacific Trillium in the Portland area: Tryon Creek State Natural Area. Tryon Creek hosts an annual Trillium Festival to celebrate these treasured woodland wildflowers.
A Quick Introduction to Trilliums in Oregon
Pacific Trilliums are three-petaled, three-leaved woodland wildflowers. You might see a mix of white and pink trilliums in the forest as the season progresses, because the flowers begin white and then darken to pink after a few weeks.
Are Trilliums Native to Oregon?
Yes, trilliums are native to Oregon and make a great addition to a native woodland garden. A great place to buy Pacific Trillium plants is the annual Tryon Creek Trillium Festival in April. Stay tuned for more on that below.
How Do Pacific Trilliums Spread?
Per Portland Nursery, trilliums have seeds, but they typically spread underground instead. Their rhizomes (underground stems) can extend and develop roots and a child plant. Because of this propagation method, trilliums can form natural bouquet-like clusters like the one in this photo.
Pacific Trilliums are fascinatingly slow-growing from seed. It can take many years for a plant to flower—so take care not to pick any! Per the Friends of Tryon Creek, after sprouting, a trillium plant is just a single small pre-leaf (called a cotyledon) for an entire season. In subsequent years, it appears as a single, larger leaf. Eventually it develops all three leaves, and then the following year (at the earliest), it flowers. Check out the Friends of Tryon Creek trillium page for a great illustration of this lifecycle.
Annual Tryon Creek Trillium Festival
Tryon Creek State Natural Area is a forested wonderland in Portland’s southwest quadrant. The Friends of Tryon Creek host an annual Trillium Festival each spring, and the photos in this post were taken on the day of the festival in 2022 (April 2nd). Since trilliums begin blooming earlier in the season, on the day of the festival you may see a few that have turned pink.
The Trillium Festival includes a native plant sale and educational displays. It’s also held at a great time of year to see the Pacific Trilliums of Tryon Creek at their best, so I’d recommend taking a hike through the park. There are many trail options at Tryon Creek, so you really can’t go wrong.
A route we like begins at the Nature Center and combines a few trails to make a 4.7-mile loop around the park. It has quite a long name since it combines a few different trails—the North Horse, Lewis and Clark, Englewood Horse, and Cedar Trail Loop! Here is the trail description on AllTrails so you can do the hike yourself if you’d like.
If you do this loop hike, midway through you’ll come across a sign for the Tryon Life Community Farm. The owners welcome visitors to explore their farm, which adjoins the park. At the farm, we saw adorable baby goats, chickens, and mason bees.
If you’d like to see the trilliums but not participate in the other festival activities, I’d recommend either timing your visit for the weekend before or after the Trillium Festival, or parking somewhere other than the Nature Center (where the festivities are based). We found parking at the Nature Center area to be a challenge on the day of the festival, though the rest of the park wasn’t crowded.
Other Early Spring Wildflowers at the Trillium Festival
Around the time of the Trillium Festival, other early spring wildflowers are also emerging. We found the salmonberry shrubs in bloom, with their magenta flowers. The bigleaf maple trees were also in full bloom, showing bright yellow clusters of flowers.
Between the early wildflowers and the moss and ferns at their spring best, early April is a beautiful time for a walk at Tryon Creek.
Other Adventures in the Pacific Northwest
If you enjoy the trilliums at Tryon Creek, you may also enjoy exploring other regional wildflower hotspots. Top examples are the camas lily meadows at Lacamas Park, the alpine wildflower meadows of Paradise Park, and the yellow balsamroot fields at Dog Mountain.
For more travel ideas in the Pacific Northwest, check out our PNW Trip Planner. You can find adventures near you and filter by season and difficulty level. There are weird and wonderful things to explore any time of year. The trip planner links to blog posts to help you plan your next adventure.
Happy exploring!
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