PHOTOS: In Salem, find refuge from the pandemic at Bush’s Pasture Park

A pollen-laden bee hovers near a camas root flower in Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

It happens every year in mid April, even during the coronavirus shutdown, the annual eye-popping burst of spring color in Bush’s Pasture Park in south Salem.

   Well planned and maintained, the park, donated to Salem residents by the Bush family in 1917, is a prime destination year round, but the ephemeral spring display is the most colorful. Tulips, camas root, and flowering trees and shrubs spring up almost magically, then fade almost as fast. 

   A group of volunteer gardeners helps city of Salem park employees keep the park’s perfectly groomed look. Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, the volunteers meet weekly (together but apart gardening) for their work sessions. Anyone wishing to participate can contact the Mission Street Parks Conservancy at [email protected].

   The spring show will fade soon but the park has plenty to offer anytime. During the COVID shutdown, rest rooms and the playground are closed. The 90-acre park has plenty of room for comfortable social distancing walks.

Lamps light a row of tulips along the sidewalk on the north side of Bush House in Bush’s Pasture Park. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

With plenty of room for comfortable social distancing, a man walks his dog near Bush House. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Pink and white blossoms line a path through Bush’s Pasture Park. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

A bed of brightly colored tulips, planted by volunteer gardeners, adds a dramatic foreground to the south side of Bush House. The house was built by the Bush family in 1878. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Bright blossoms from a flowering cherry tree tower over a carpet of tulips in Bush’s Pasture Park. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

A pink tulip tree blossom adds a colorful exclamation point to the lush green of Bush’s Pasture Park. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Water droplets from early morning dew glisten on delicate yellow lamb’s tongues in Bush’s Pasture Park. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

An oak tree casts a long, early morning shadow across a field of camas root in bloom at Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Tall lamps light the walking path through Bush’s Pasture Park as the park’s color gives way to the evening. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Camas root, an important source of food for early indigenous inhabitants of the Willamette Valley, casts bright colors across Bush’s Pasture Park. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Pathways through the oak groves and open fields allow easy walking through blossoming camas root at Bush’s Pasture Park in Salem. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Pink, ornamental cherry blossoms are part of the spring scenery at Bush’s Pasture Park. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Bright red tulips and deep blue sky frames the west side of the Italianate Victorian Bush House on a sunny spring day. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)

Contact Salem Reporter: [email protected].