Fort Worth Botanical Garden's Japanese Garden
This month I took some out of town guests to the Fort Worth Botanical Garden's Japanese Garden. In case you've never visited before, the Botanical Garden is free (and basically treated like a fancy public park), however, the Japanese Garden has an admission fee and once you enter it's gates you can see why. It had been years since I last visited the jewel of Fort Worth Botanical Garden and I had forgotten how beautiful this place is.
In my mind it was always a "newer" garden, but was actually completed in 1973, making it older than I am. It is a traditional strolling garden, designed with lots of elevation change and curving paths. The garden is 7.5 acres, but feels even larger due to it's careful design.
It features lots of cherry trees, Japanese maples, magnolias, bamboo, bridges, and lots of ponds and water features.
There are really no flowers in this garden except for when the cherry trees are in bloom due to the Japanese practice of Mono no Aware. This translates to transient/bittersweet beauty, meaning if the garden was always blooming it would never be special.
The gardens are home to approximately 1,200 koi found in the gardens ponds. They are well trained koi, and come swimming up when they see visitors because they know they bring food.
My guests were enchanted with the fish and luckily had a quarter so they could purchase some food. If you plan ahead, food is available for purchase at the ticket booth in the front of the Japanese Garden.
The garden includes a Karesansui, or dry landscape garden. We were lucky enough to see a staff member working on it during our visit. We visited for about 2 hours and he was working when we arrived and was still working as we were headed to the exit.
The garden also has lots of little vignettes and art all throughout the space.
As the day started to heat up, my out of town guests were "starting to wilt" so we headed to a grab a bite to eat before their flight. So glad I got to enjoy this place with folks seeing it for the first time. I definitely won't let so much time go by before I visit again.
The Japanese gardens are the one section I still haven't been in at the FWBG! I'll have to get into them eventually.
ReplyDeleteThey are like a whole different world!
DeleteJapanese gardens are so green and peaceful. While I love blooms and color, the concept of Mono no Aware makes sense. How special it is when there are blooms or autumn color. Glad you had a good visit with your friends!
ReplyDeleteI've never been in the spring or fall, but really need to try and get there. I think every time I've visited it has been right around now.
DeleteWith the water, the trees, and all that green the garden looks cool even if it was anything but. It's interesting that it's the one area subject to an admission charge but I expect that goes to maintaining its pristine beauty.
ReplyDeleteThe Japaneses Garden is kept at a much higher standard than the rest of the Botanical Garden. Currently the Fort Worth Botanical Garden has about a 15 million dollars in deferred maintenance. While it's wonderful for the community that the majority of the garden is free, clearly they need additional income.
DeleteJapanese gardens are so fascinating and lovely. They are so planned out and have so much meaning behind how they are landscaped. What a beautiful place to visit!
ReplyDeleteIt really is a beautiful place.
DeleteWhat a calm place. I would love to go through during autumn when all of those Japanese Maples were turning colors. I bet it is spectacular.
ReplyDelete