Yao Japanese Garden March 2010
Yao Japanese Garden March 2010
Yao Japanese Garden June 2010
Yao Japanese Garden June 2010
Yao Japanese Garden June 2010
Yao Japanese Garden June 2010
Yao Japanese Garden June 2010
The Yao Japanese Garden at the Bellevue Botanical Garden is a serenely beautiful place. Every part of the Bellevue Botanical Garden is lovely. It seems constantly to be improved. The Bellevue Botanical Garden is the closest thing the Seattle area has to a world-class public botanical garden. The Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle is obviously trying to catch up & perhaps it will. Indeed, the Japanese Garden at the Washington Park Arboretum is more impressive. But the Yao Japanese Garden has a relaxed & intimate feel, while many Japanese gardens seem over-groomed & rigid. The Yao Japanese Garden is easy stroll, along a wide path, at the edge of the woodland, not far from the main entrance. Yao is Bellevue's Japanese sister city. Perhaps the most beautiful & certainly the largest Japanese garden in the Seattle area is Kubota Garden in the Rainier Beach neighborhood of Seattle.
Thanks for sharing the exceptional photographs. It's hard to believe that such beauty actually exists in North America. Our mainstream media has been failing us by not showcasing gardens such as these.
ReplyDeleteYou make an interesting point about Japanese gardens being overly groomed and rigid. I think that must be why although I like Japanese gardens, I have never really wanted to create one for myself. I like my garden and art too, I suppose, just a bit looser.
ReplyDeleteHi Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI have recently found your blog and have been really ejoying it. I have not been able to open the new Seattle Cherry Blossoms post for some reason. I have also been browsing through your photographs-they are exceptional. Looking forward to hearing and seeing more.
Michael, I'm still editing the cherry blossom post. It will appear shortly.
ReplyDeleteIt hardly seems fair: Seattle area has two (nearly?) worldclass Japanese gardens and some places have none at all. Oh well, a gardener can always hope....
ReplyDeleteChristine in Alaska
We have 3 very nice Japanese gardens in the Seattle metropolitan area. Whether they are nearly world-class, I'm not sure. From pictures I've seen, they don't compare very well to gardens in Japan.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, the one in Bellevue is just nicer on the whole to experience. I have never really liked the Arboretum Japanese garden for some reason, and I don't think it's just the groomed-ness, as that can be lovely when it's just right. I don't know, maybe I'm just a commie, I hate to pay to enter a garden. :) That's why I love Strybing so much too, since it's great and FREE. I also agree that Kubota is the best, just flows so well and is so enjoyable to wander.
ReplyDelete