Since its inception, Portland Botanical Gardens (PBG) has always had a strong sense of identity. As we’ve grown through organizational changes and miles of progress, our brand has served as a reflection of our evolution. Now, we’re entering a new, historic chapter in the Portland Botanical Gardens story, and we’re ready for a fresh, elevated look. So welcome to the new and improved PBG brand.
Returning to Our Roots
When we discussed the prospect of a rebrand for Portland Botanical Gardens, one thing that kept coming up was the importance of native plants and native habitat protection, education, and restoration. When the McCormick and Baxter Superfund site was remediated, the land was repopulated with native plants to better rehabilitate the animal habitats that occupied the space. Our vision for PBG’s development will have a large focus on native plants and habitats. And as a grassroots organization grown right here on the Willamette River, we’re excited to incorporate more local flora into our brand.
Choosing an Oregon Icon
Our Marketing and Communications team compiled a list of 12 iconic Oregon native plants and narrowed it down to 2. From these 2, we settled on Fritillaria affinis, also known as the chocolate lily or checker lily, for our logo. Not only is this bulb an iconic and unique wildflower in the Pacific Northwest (PNW), but it’s also a foraged wild food. Choosing the chocolate lily as our new icon is the next step in the evolution of our organization as we seek to provide Portland, Oregon, the PNW, and beyond, with an immersive space for knowledge, community, and collaboration that is uniquely Portland. Even our color palette ties back to native wildflowers with a purple shade from Olsynium douglasii (grasswidow) and a yellow hue from Mahonia aquifolium (Oregon grape).
Looking Back at PBG Brands Gone By
Not many of you were around when our logo looked like an element on the periodic table, but everyone here now probably associates the green Passiflora with PBG. The iconic Passiflora logo was used in our branding as an homage to our origins and our proposal of hosting the largest public collection of passionflowers in the country. While this is still a vision of ours, our dedication to connecting with the local community and native wildlife will be one of our key focuses in the coming years.
