Bucket List

"Moonbridge" photo by Allan Bruce Zee

Portland Japanese Garden

"A Japanese garden is not only a place for the cultivation of trees and flowering shrubs, but one that provides secluded leisure, rest, repose, meditation, and sentimental pleasure...The Garden speaks to all the senses, not just to the mind alone."

—Professor Takuma Tono
Designer of the Portland Japanese Garden

The Friendship Bell,
Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden
Lethbridge Alberta
W.C. in photo

I was just reading a blog written by April Demas at Canadian Gardening Magazine online (http://www.canadiangardening.com/blog/2010/08/23/a-visit-to-nikka-yuko/) about the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden in Lethbridge Alberta which brought me to remember my own visits there. It is serenity itself! I believe this is where I came to appreciate the intricacy of garden design and definitely fell in love with Japanese Gardens. My earliest memory of the garden was as a child strolling the pathways, peering into the pond and ringing the friendship bell. I have made several subsequent visits, each time equally enthralled with this small but serene and remarkable garden.

 


 

photo by David M. Cobb



If you get a chance, there are a few more noteworthy Japanese Gardens including and certainly not limited to Kurimoto Japanese Gardens at the Devonian Botanical Gardens, Devon, Alberta; Nitobe Memorial Garden at the UBC (British Columbia) – a must see for me; and the Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon – another one I just have to visit. Another favourite of mine, should you be in Vancouver in the future, is the Van Dusen Gardens! It is not a Japanese Garden per se but is a remarkable display of plants arranged by country of origin, including some of Asian origin.  This garden takes several hours for a photo happy writer, like myself, to navigate. It is an essential garden for the plant addict to visit.

photo by Donair Spencer

I visited the press release portion on Portland Japanese Garden site and accessed some fabulous information and photos. I am mesmerized.  A few years ago my family and I vacationed in Vancouver and Seattle making our way down the coast into Oregon but we didn't make it as far as Portland.  Happily I took in Van Dusen Gardens in Vancouver and another garden which shall remain nameless, simply because I cannot remember its name, in Seattle.  Hydrangeas, pampas grass,  rhododendrons, azaleas, and so much more to delight your senses!  Definitely on my bucket list are the Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island and Portland Japanese Gardens in Oregon.  Now,  I just have to get there!   

Anyone have suggestions on other must-see public gardens?  I have room on my bucket list.

http://www.nikkayuko.com/index.asp
http://www.japanesegarden.com/
http://www.butchartgardens.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1
http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/visitorinfo/
http://vancouver.ca/parks/parks/vandusen/website/index.htm