Seattle Japanese Garden, a tranquil oasis in the city
August 25, 2011 In late July, after the Seattle Garden Bloggers Fling ended, my family joined me for sightseeing in the Emerald City and beyond. I convinced them to see one more garden with me, the Seattle Japanese Garden in the Washington Park Arboretum. At 3-1/2 acres, the garden is ...
Nature, only better: The transcendent Bloedel Reserve
August 18, 2011 The Bloedel Reserve is a place of utter beauty and almost spiritual peacefulness. Rain drips quietly from mossy branches, and the color green wraps you in a soft embrace. I explored the grounds for two-and-a-half hours—not nearly enough time to see all 150 acres, but enough to ...
Japanese Garden at Zilker Botanical Garden
April 02, 2011 I recently posted about the prehistoric garden at Zilker, but an older and equally beautiful part of the botanical garden is the Taniguchi Japanese Garden. It’s an intimate, contemplative, green place overlooking downtown Austin. The garden was a gift to the city by 70-year-old Isamu Taniguchi in ...
Japanese Garden in Buffalo’s Delaware Park: Buffalo Garden Bloggers Fling
July 14, 2010 One of the stops on Friday’s bus tour at Garden Bloggers Buffa10 was the Japanese Garden in Delaware Park. Part of Buffalo’s historic Olmsted Parks System, the garden was constructed in 1974 by its Japanese sister city, Kanazawa, but as Buffalo fell on hard times the park ...
Blogger field trip: San Antonio Botanical Garden
November 08, 2009 A monarch and honeybee share space on a Mexican sunflower (Tithonia rotundiflora) Twelve Austin garden bloggers caravaned to San Antonio on Saturday to visit San Antonio Botanical Garden and the Antique Rose Emporium, with a stop along the way at Madrone Nursery in San Marcos, a native-plant ...
Chicago Botanic Garden wows Spring Flingers
June 02, 2009 Tulips and toadflax Where to begin? Yesterday afternoon I returned to Austin from the second annual Garden Bloggers Spring Fling, held in Chicago this year, feeling dazzled by all the spring-blooming Windy City gardens, hoarse from talking so much with friends old and new, and dog-tired from ...
Zilker Botanical Garden: Isamu Taniguchi Japanese Garden
November 02, 2007 Aside from the new-ish Hartman Prehistoric Garden, my favorite section of Zilker Botanical Garden is the venerable Taniguchi Japanese Garden. Created as a labor of love and opened in 1969, . . . the Garden was built by Mr. Taniguchi when he was seventy years old. Working ...
Chicago Botanic Garden: Japanese Garden & Bonsai Collection
October 17, 2007 One of my garden goals is to learn more about Japanese gardens, ideally through a trip to Japan. (Have you noticed that I like to travel?) Last spring I was inspired by Tom Spencer’s beautiful garden photos from Japan. Despite my appreciation for their quiet, reflective beauty, ...
Visit to San Antonio Botanical Garden
September 06, 2007 At summer’s end, Pride of Barbados ( Caesalpinia pulcherrima) steals the show at the entrance to the Botanical Garden, paired with butterfly weed and a tall ornamental grass. On a business trip in San Antonio last week, I lucked into an hour to spare before I needed ...
