Japanese Garden At Huntington Library Reopens With A Splash

The Huntington Library and Botanical Gardens recently reopened

 its newly renovated Japanese garden on April 11th.

The $6.8 million renovation celebrates the centennial anniversary of

this garden, which began in 1911.

This nine acre garden is 

popular and quite busy on this Sunday afternoon in late April.

A few years ago I visited this garden for the first time

 when numerous plum, cherry and peach trees were in bloom, 

which is typically between January and April, 

according to the Huntington website. It was gorgeous.

It is always a great time to visit a Japanese garden in Spring.

But it is serene and quite beautiful at any time.

For now, however, we can enjoy the Japanese maples

and this fringe tree in bloom.

The garden has several water features

including this new $1 million waterfall high above the stroll garden 

and the tea house that was shipped all the way to Kyoto 
to be renovated by the son of the original builder and then shipped back and reassembled on site.

In the peaceful Zen garden, lined on the opposite side with ginkgo trees,
 water is represented by raked dry gravel.

But the best moment of my visit occurred at this most simple
of water features next to the teahouse

where this happy Western bluebird visited several times 

and allowed me to snap away

while he splished and splashed himself in a bath!

This is GardenEnvy. 

          

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