Thursday, May 27, 2010

Kyōto Gardens



On Saturday we visited Kamigamo shrine in north Kyōto and afterword took a 15-minute walk to Ota Shrine. It is part of the Kamigamo Shrine "family," and Ota shrine is flush against the mountains that ring the city. The shrine is best known for its irises that are located in a small pond that is barely visible under a sea of green - and then in early May purple, we missed the first flowering but some flowers were still visible from a second smaller flowering. The first two images are from a small but lovely garden that surrounds the Housendo Kyōto tea and sweet shop.

2 comments:

  1. Is that Japanese maple in the middle picture? We have a little one growing in our yard in Hawaii... hopefully,as it matures, it will have brilliant hues like this gorgeous one!

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  2. That is a 紅葉 Japanese maple in the middle; I recently learned that when they are mature they turn red like this in early summer, then totally green, and then red and orange again in fall as the leaves are shed. Truly a wonderful tree! Thanks for the comment and I hope that your tree matures and shows off all its seasonal colors.

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