The historic Deepwood Estate (1116 SE Mission St., 503/363-1825, gardens dawn–dusk daily, house tours noon–4 p.m. Sun.–Fri. mid-May–mid-Sept., 11 a.m.–3 p.m. Wed.–Thurs. and Sat. mid-Sept.–mid-May, $4 adults, $3 students and seniors, $2 children) features tours of an elegant 1894 Queen Anne–style home with hand-carved woodwork, gorgeous stained-glass windows, and a well-marked nature trail.
The English formal gardens here were designed in the 1930s by the Pacific Northwest’s first women-owned landscape architecture firm; the Pringle Creek Trail’s native flora and the public greenhouse’s tropical plants are also worth visiting. Sit in Deepwood’s pagoda-like gazebo with the scent of boxwood heavy in the air on a spring afternoon and you’ll soon forget the hue and cry of political proceedings at the capitol.
Parking is at 12th and Lee Streets near the greenhouse.