Every visible part of Portland's new Chinese garden was mined or made in China, with plants of Chinese origin donated by Oregon nurseries.

TILES ALONG the entry-pavilion roof are designed so rain forms beaded curtains of water as it runs along the gutters and drips onto the pebble-paved courtyard. Little stones are set on their sides into patterns of stylized crabapple trees, and bats are carved onto each roof tile for good luck.

In a square block in Portland's Old Town, a parking lot has been transformed into the Garden of Awakening Orchids, and it has boomed with visitors since it opened last October. Every visible component of the garden was mined or made in China. Most of the plants are of Chinese origin, and many were donated by Oregon nurseries.

Visiting Portland's garden on a recent wintry afternoon has left me excited about Seattle's new Chinese garden, being built in West Seattle. The only Chinese garden I'd ever visited before was the austere Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden in Vancouver, B.C., where I could appreciate the history and meaning of the garden, but not the rocky, hard-surfaced aesthetics.

The beauty of the Portland garden is far more accessible to the Western eye. Anyone who grew up watching the original movie version of "The King and I" will recognize the swoop on the double-story teahouse roof as a perfect match for the upturned curve of Yul Brynner's bejeweled slippers.

Both the Portland and Seattle garden were born from sister-city relationships. In each, plants emphasize a perfect balance of architecture and nature. Much of the work is being done by Chinese artisans.

Now In Bloom Lungworts are one of the first perennials to flower, with the little apricot-coral bells of Pulmonaria rubra usually beating the blues or whites into bloom. The faintly spotted lime-green foliage of P. rubra 'Redstart' shows off the pink flowers to fine advantage. Lungworts bloom for most of the spring, and do best in fertile, moist soil in part or full shade.

But the style and sites of the two gardens couldn't be more different. The garden being built on the campus of South Seattle Community College (one pavilion has been completed) is based on the sprawling, naturalistic style of landscape gardens in Chongqing, a southern province of Szechuan. The style seems ideal for the six-acre hilltop site with views to the city, Elliott Bay and the mountains. The Seattle Chinese Garden Society, helped by a large gift from Boeing, has raised $4 million with a goal of $6.3 million for Phase 1 of the garden.

The Portland garden is built on a scant urban acre and cost $13 million.

China has been called "The Mother of Gardens" and it has been said that it is possible to enter all of Chinese culture through the moon gate of the garden. The traditional forms of rock and plant, bridge and pond, inspired painters and poets through the centuries.

In Portland's walled garden, 300 tons of cloud-shaped rock mimic rugged cliffs and mountain peaks, while the flexibility and grace of bamboo represents admired human characteristics. But thankfully, the garden's creators weren't so intent on symbolism that they ignored the decorative. Black pots hold burnt-orange chrysanthemums. Tasseled lanterns hang from the ceiling of the scholar's room, and stones are emblazoned with vivid Chinese characters. Ornately carved wooden doors and window screens soften the gray stone. And pattern upon pattern leads into and through the garden, with sky and pines reflected in smooth ponds, rooms opening to bridges, and windows leaking views through the garden and out to the surrounding city.

You can pause for a cup of tea in the Tower of Cosmic Reflections, stroll through the Flowers Bathing in Spring Rain waterside pavilion, or find the gift shop past the Hall of Brocade Clouds. Such fancifulness comes from Suzhou, an ancient city of canals 50 miles west of Shanghai known for compact, intricate gardens that manipulate landscapes to poetic ends. In Portland, in the largest Suzhou-style classical Chinese garden ever built outside China, poetry drips from the rooftops along with the beads of water.

For information on visiting The Garden of the Awakening Orchid, call 503-228-8131 or see www.chinesegarden.org.

To learn more about Seattle's own Chinese garden, call 206-282-8040.

Valerie Easton, a horticultural librarian who writes about plants and gardens for Pacific Northwest magazine, is the co-author of "Artists in Their Gardens" from Sasquatch Books. Her e-mail address is vjeaston@aol.com.