One of the destinations on my early April trip to Portland, Oregon was the garden of mosaic artist and garden designer Jeffrey Bale. What little I knew about him I had gleaned from Loree’s post on her blog, danger garden.
As I was working on this post, I did additional research and found that Jeffrey is not just some guy making mosaics, he’s world-renowned. You can see examples of his work on his own blog.
Here’s some background on Jeremy. When you look at my photos of his garden below, keep this context in mind and you’ll understand better what his garden is about.
Jeffrey earned a degree in landscape architecture from the University of Oregon in 1981. After briefly working at a traditional architectural firm (he lasted all of twenty minutes, apparently), he left to travel around the world, studying the historical outdoor architecture of Europe, Southeast Asia, and Morocco. He was particularly influenced by the stone plazas of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, and the traditional Moorish pebble installations at the Alhambra in Granada, Spain. When he returned to the United States, he began experimenting with different masonry techniques and eventually transitioned into a full-time career as a garden designer and mosaicist (yes, that is a word).
Jeffrey has developed a low-tech methodology for creating pebble mosaics by setting natural stones on edge into a bed of wet mortar. Rather than relying on uniform, mass-produced stones, he hand-collects them from natural environments, such as beaches in the Puget Sound region and riverbeds in Oregon.
Jeffrey’s personal garden in northeast Portland functions as a primary laboratory for his design ideas. The space — actually two neighboring lots and houses — brings together regional flora, uncommon botanical specimens, reflective water features, and imported architectural elements, such as Indian and Tibetan artifacts.
The garden’s hardscaping is based on complex geometric and organic patterns. Notable features include a Persian rug-style patio mosaic, winding footpaths outlined with Molalla flagstone, and literal representations like a western rattlesnake path winding around the house. His public and private commissions across California, Washington, and Oregon frequently incorporate spiritual and cosmological themes, including a 36-foot-diameter stone labyrinth on Bainbridge Island featuring symbolic lunar rings and a 108-stone Tibetan mala cycle set like a necklace of Tibetan prayer beads.
On that note, let’s start at the sidewalk in front of Jeremy’s house:
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| The tulips in the hell strip are beautiful, but they don’t give away any of the magic waiting in Jeffrey’s garden |
As I mentioned earlier, Jeremy owns two neighboring properties. He lives in one and rents out the other, but the backyards are one seamless expanse with no fence to separate them. We’ll get to that in a second. Right now, we’re still in the front.
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| Rug mosaic and meditation spot right off the sidewalk |
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| I was mesmerized by the moss |
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| We simply don’t have moss... |
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| ...this thick and lush where I live |
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| Moss-covered mosaic leading... |
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| ...to the steps to the front door of the house where Jeffrey lives |
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| The color scheme of the house reminded me of the Yucatán |
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| The neighboring house, originally a crack house, now a rental |
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| The two houses share a similar color story |
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| Every nook and cranny seemed to have something special |
The remaining photos are of Jeffrey’s house. Rounding the corner and walking towards the back garden:
The path around the side into the back is a mosaic forming a rattlesnake. Here’s the head:
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| And here’s the tail |
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| Looking the way we just came |
As soon I rounded the corner into the back garden, my eyes immediately went to the central feature: the Niche Wall. It’s a visual screen from the neighboring house just a few feet from the property line, and it serves both as an outdoor sanctuary and a physical chronicle of Jeffrey’s extensive travels through South and Southeast Asia. (Even to this day, he spends winters overseas, exploring and learning about other cultures.)
According to my research (mostly Jeffrey’s own blog,
especially this post), the structural core of the Niche Wall consists of concrete block backing covered entirely in stones that fit so tightly that the underlying mortar is entirely obscured from view. The primary architectural elements are hand-carved sandstone relics—including scalloped window arches, floral frames, and platforms—that Jeffrey salvaged during four winters spent in Rajasthan, India.
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The scalloped stone frames heavily reference traditional Mughal and Islamic architecture, mimicking lotus blossom silhouettes and classical Gardens of Paradise motifs. The frames create recessed niches that act as elevated altars. Each niche houses bronze Buddha and Hindu deities collected on travels through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Myanmar.
I had never seen anything like it before and could have spent a lot more time examining all the details, not to mention listening to Jeffrey talk. But we were on a schedule, so time was limited. Plus, there were plenty of other things to see.
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| Door from the garden into Jeffrey’s house |
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| Of course there’s a mosaic in front of the door |
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| More pieces Jeffrey collected on his travels |
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| Just two of many bells |
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| No space is left unadorned |
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| What looks like tattered flags are actually bananas. I bet that in the summer, when they’re fully leafed out, the two-story house behind Jeffrey’s garden is completely hidden from view. |
Jeffrey’s garden is a deeply spiritual person, and I’m grateful that he invited us into what is clearly a very personal space.
© Gerhard Bock, 2026. All rights reserved. To receive all new posts by email, please subscribe here.
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