Every source of gardening information eventually talks about the importance of texture in selecting and arranging plants.

It all became clear in one small, lingering, pink flower beneath a variegated Japanese maple tree.

Our family, including three teenagers and a 5-year-old, had been in the Portland Japanese Garden about 90 minutes and hadn't realized we weren't seeing flowers.

The pink five-petaled flower was the first. It pointed out so simply that virtually every growing thing we had been admiring until that point had been layer upon layer of green, from low-growing mosses to water grasses in the koi ponds and the canopy of trees and bushes, some in their natural form and some carefully snipped and sculpted, throughout the shaded garden.

There were, of course, exceptions, notably a few tall trees with soft, green needles and red trunks. I didn't think until later that maybe the red bark wouldn't be as striking in the spring when the garden is full of blooming azaleas and rhododendrons. That would be sad.

The Japanese Garden is something the adults in our group - myself, my daughter and daughter-in-law - had wanted to see for many years. I'd say almost since it was created in the early 1960s, but neither Ellen nor Connie were born then. This trip, we made it a primary destination.

Even with a passel of grandkids, it was a pleasure. The 5-year-old boy enjoyed the bridges, the waterfalls and streams and foot-long koi. The teen-age girls, 13 and 15, made it a point to not walk with us, but neither did they complain about the time we spent, which I took as a sure sign they were enjoying themselves.

The garden is actually five separate areas, each about an acre, that blend seamlessly. They are an easy hour's walk on an overcast afternoon, but it somehow felt wrong to spend only that much time. There was so much to see, I'm sure we missed a lot of the richness of detail.

I envied the woman in the sand and stone garden who just sat, looking at the precise waves and circles, eddies in white gravel around standing stones.

I admired. She contemplated.

It is a place of incredible peace.

According to the garden's Website, the garden came into being a few years after Portland and Sapporo, Japan, became sister cities in 1958. In 1962, the Portland City Council established a commission charged with creating a garden on the site of the former Washington Park Zoo. Construction started the following year.

The garden was designed by Professor Takuma Tono, head of the Landscape Architecture Department of Tokyo Agricultural University. He also oversaw the construction on a combination of flat ground and hillside.

The five garden styles are a strolling pond garden, a tea garden, a natural garden, a flat garden and a sand-and-stone garden.

If not for the map provided at the entrance, we probably wouldn't have realized there was an intentional demarcation.

The Kashintei Tea House was added to the garden in 1968. It was built in Japan, disassembled and rebuilt. Demonstrations of formal tea ceremonies are conducted there periodically, according to the Website.

There and elsewhere, bamboo is used for fences and dividers, some little more than a foot or two tall and others shoulder height. They fit.

Other things that caught my attention, and which I hope to learn more about before going back for a springtime visit, are the paths. Some are ordinary, if attractive, such as the stone staircases on the hillsides.

Others are more than utilitarian because someone built them of round, smooth rocks like the river rocks found here but interspersed with rectangular slabs of stone. The patterns were both attractive and, because no one else was nearby, practical for an impromptu game of hopscotch with the 5-year-old.

The key to those in the Japanese Garden, though, seems to be that they aren't laid in straight lines. Even a concrete walkway that crosses the pond garden zig zags. They are both pleasing to look at and slow you down so you have time to smile at other visitors and to look about.

I'm always trying to figure out how things could be replicated at home. Perhaps something similar to the paths could be done in miniature with the 8-inch by 16-inch concrete paving stones arranged with exposed aggregate stepping stones.

Other than that, without the 40-odd inches of rain Portland gets every year, its temperate climate and the traditional training of the garden curator charged with maintaining its authenticity, it might be difficult to do much beyond creating a corner of maples or azaleas, a mossy statue or bamboo fountain.

The Website quotes one Japanese ambassador as saying the Portland garden is the most authentic of its kind outside of Japan, and a second who said it was more authentic than even those in Japan.

My family recommends it highly whether you have an hour or an afternoon. We also recommend a walk through the larger of two shops on site, the Garden Gift Store, whether you plan to buy or just look.

Afterward, it's a short stroll across the street and down some stairs to the International Rose Test Garden, which is free. If you like roses or just flowers, fountains, strolling grassy paths, and the possibility of glimpsing a wedding party, as we did, it's well worth an extra hour or more.

One of my 15-year-old granddaughters who is considering a career in photography left the park shaking her head at herself for snapping pictures of a wedding where she didn't know anyone. But who can resist a bride, especially if she has a bevy of bridesmaids in rose-pink, one of them with a large crescent moon tattoo on her shoulder?

Next spring, we hope to see the Japanese Garden in full bloom, then visit several others in the area, including a Chinese garden in Portland's downtown. Type "Portland gardens" into your browser and watch the options pop up.

If you have or know of a garden you would like to share with our readers, please contact Lee at (208) 848-2266 or slee@lmtribune.com.

If you go

What: Portland Japanese Garden

Where: 611 S.W. Kingston Ave., Portland

When: Hours may vary.

April 1-Sept. 30: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Guided tours at 10:45 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. daily.

Oct. 1-March 31: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Guided tours at 1 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.

Mondays: Open at noon all year.

Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.

Admission: Regular admission, $8; seniors 62 and older and college students with ID, $6.75; youths 6 to 17, $5.25; children 5 and younger, free.

Of note: www.japanesegarden.com