Their trees, flowers, and flowing water improve our health, ease our anxieties, and serve as the stage for family reunions, weddings, and just plain fun. Parks and green spaces also clean our air, cool our hot summer days, and provide refuge for birds and animals. Most importantly, parks are the places where distinctions of race and ethnicity, wealth and class, fall away and people come together as a community.

Mission Street Parks Conservancy exists to foster community. We believe public parks play a critical role in the health and happiness of our community, and we’re committed to preserving and caring for them today and for the future. If you enjoy our parks, please support our work by becoming a member today.

Bush’s Pasture Park

An map highlighting the numerous amenities of Bush’s Pasture Park, including playgrounds, museum, art gallery, rose garden, sports venues, picnic areas and more.

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Rose Garden

May through September, Bush’s Pasture Park Rose Garden is alive with blooms from over 100 modern and old rose cultivars. Over 2,000 individual rose plants are distributed among the garden’s 105 beds.

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Latest News

2024 Art Fair Plant Sale

Mission Street Parks Conservancy is excited to announce our annual Art Fair Plant Sale in conjunction with the Salem Art Fair at Bush’s Pasture Park! Friday, September 13, 2024: 10am – 7pm Saturday, September 14, 2024: 10am – 7pm Sunday,…

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Woodland Garden Project Moves Forward

The woodland garden project at Bush’s Pasture Park took another step towards reality today when volunteers cut an opening through the hedge into the new garden space. Over the next 6 weeks, the City will level the uneven ground, grade…

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Volunteer Profile: Anita Engberg

The Tuesday Gardeners wasn’t the first volunteer group Anita Engberg joined when she moved to Salem in 2013.  That was the Willamette Humane Society which she joined just days after moving here.  It was 6 months later, in January of…

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Special Places in the Park
A public park during autumn

Trails, Picnicking, & Playgrounds

Bush’s Pasture Park has several playgrounds and picnic areas located near the Bush Barn and both upper and lower Leffelle Street parking lots.

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A public space covered in snow

White Oak Groves

The Upper and Lower Oak Groves create a cathedral of welcoming shade for picnicking, playing, or just sitting and ‘forest bathing’.

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Recreational open spaces

Open Pastures

The upper and lower pastures of the original Bush farmstead remain as open lawn. Ideal places for a ball game, playing Frisbee, or just soaking up the sunshine.

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The conservatory and gardens

The Conservatory & Gardens

The interior of the conservatory contains plants popular in Victorian glasshouses, and there are interpretive panels that bring the history of the structure ‘to life’.

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A purple and yellow flower

Rhododendron Hillside

The Hillside features about 130 varieties of species and hybrid rhododendron and azaleas, and well over 300 varieties of companion plants located on a 2½ acre east facing slope.

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A garden of pink rose

Rose Garden

May through August, the Garden is alive with blooms from over 170 modern and old rose cultivars. Over 2,000 individual rose plants are distributed among the garden’s 105 beds.

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A creek

Pringle Creek Riparian Area

Pringle Creek flows along the western edge of the park, through the shade of big-leaf maples and other native trees, shrubs and ground cover. A narrow meandering path accesses the creek.

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A home with bushes

Bush House Museum

The Bush House Museum, in Bush’s Pasture Park, is preserved and interpreted to illuminate the lives and legacy of Salem’s Bush Family, the early development of Salem and Oregon history and culture.

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Mission Street Parks Conservancy - Camas - Lorem Ipsim

Camas Fields & Wildflower Slope

Camas (Camassia quamash) carpet the lower Oak Grove, while the great camas (Camassia leichtlinii) can be found in the Rhododendron Hillside and among other wildflowers on the slope.

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VOLUNTEER

These gardens are possible because of our dedicated group of volunteers. Learn how to become a volunteer gardener, plant sale volunteer or contribute your professional services.

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Gloves
Trees & Plants

GIS Map of Bush’s Pasture Park

The Conservancy is starting to map the location on the park’s trees and woody shrubs, as well as the location and contents of mass planting beds. As we gather this data, the results are available through our interactive GIS map.

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Plant Database

The Conservancy is working to locate and catalogue all of the park’s trees, woody shrubs, and contents of mass planting beds. This allows the public to search the parks’ plant collections. Users can search our database by entering attributes such as common name, scientific name, cultivar, and plant habit.

Plant Collections

The park’s plant material is organized into several general and special collections. The Conservancy has developed descriptions and management policies for each collection.

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