BBG Japanese Garden, a Stroll in Heaven

Last week I stopped by the Birmingham Botanical Gardens for a stroll through its authentic Japanese Garden. Designed by Mr. Masaji Morai,  the Japanese Garden was opened in 1967 by the Japanese ambassador to the United States. It contains traditional Japanese architecture and garden elements, including a sixteenth century style tea house.

One enters the garden through a red torii gate or "gate to heaven".

The Yoshino cherry trees were blooming, and a gentle breeze brought showers of the white blossoms to the ground around me as I strolled through this piece of paradise.

Here is the Taylor Gate, the entrance to the Cultural Center, where the tea house is located.Toshinan, whose name means the house where those gathered can light a wick of undertanding in each other's heart, was built by one of Japan's finest shrine and temple builders, Mr. Kazunori Tago of Maibashi. He used only traditional tools and techniques in the Sukiya-style tea house, designed with natural materials and rustic but refined simplicity. Maibashi is Birmingham's sister city in Japan, and its citizens donated all of the materials used in construction of the tea house.

I was fortunate to participate in an authentic tea ceremony here some years ago when I worked as a docent at the BBG. A Japanese geisha prepared tea for a group of us in the traditional manner. The green tea was thick and tasted like spinach! 

Here are more scenes from my walk through the Japanese Garden.

You can see more photos of the Japanese Garden by clicking on its photo gallery in the sidebar. Enjoy, and may you feel content and free as a cherry blossom in the breeze.  Deborah

Was it worth it?

To celebrate my friend Janet's recent birthday, a few of us had lunch today at the Garden Cafe at Birmingham Botanical Gardens. I planned to wander around afterwards, taking photos for my blog. I was sure there would be many great photo opportunities, even in early February. The camellias would be blooming! I am running out of subjects in my own garden. There are only so many interesting ways to photograph bare limbs and dried leaves.

It rained.

Although I had hoped the weather would clear and I could get some good photographs, the rain was still coming down when our luncheon ended. It wasn't too bad, however, and Janet and I walked to the conservatory after the others had departed. She was carrying a bulky box with a birthday present in it, her purse, an umbrella, and some small plants inside plastic bags. I was carrying my purse, my camera, and an umbrella.

"I only want to get a few shots of the camellias. That's all," I said.

We admired the tropical plants in the main conservatory as we headed for the camellia house. I paused briefly to take photos of some of them.

A large pot of colorful crotons, codiaeum variegatum, was near the entrance of the conservatory.

We admired the powder puff plant, calliandra haematocephale, a vine that is native to Brazil and other parts of South America. It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies.

The largest herb in the world grows in the conservatory of the BBG. What is that? The banana tree! The bananas are used to feed animals at the nearby Birmingham zoo.

At last we opened the door to the camellia house. My own camellias are not quite blooming yet, but in the heated camellia house many were in full bloom and their wonderful colors greeted us.

As beautiful as the greenhouse camellias were, what I really wanted to see was the camellia walk outside.

"Just a few shots, " I promised Janet as we headed out into the rain.

The camellias were lovely, and I took some photographs from the shelter of my umbrella.

I spied an arch.

"Oh, how pretty," I cried. "Lets go up there!"

The view from the arch was the most beautiful we had seen so far. "Just a couple more," I told Janet.

I composed a photo in the view finder, then depressed the button to take the shot. Nothing happened! My camera batteries had chosen that moment to die. I bemoaned the lost photos, but I am sure Janet was secretly rejoicing. We were both wet as we started back.

We came to a large puddle, and the only way around it was by walking along a ledge. We balanced ourselves like a couple of schoolgirls. The maneuver took grace and agility, of which neither of us had much. We clutched our belongings and hoped for the best.

We made it!

We were well on the way to our cars when disaster struck. Somehow the lid to Janet's birthday box popped open, and her new terra cotta candle holders threatened to fall out. I grabbed them to prevent that from happening, and a million white styrofoam packing peanuts spilled out and started bouncing and blowing in the breeze. Janet handed me her stuff and began chasing the peanuts. Meanwhile, the handle of my umbrella came off, and my umbrella tilted and threatened to poke me in the eye as I stood with purse and camera and birthday box and little plants in plastic sacks. 

And the rain kept coming down.

We were laughing or crying, I'm not sure which, when a young man named Jeff Colvin came to our rescue. He scooped handfuls of packing peanuts and returned them to the birthday box and helped us rearrange ourselves. He then carried the birthday box all the way to Janet's car. He was so kind and helpful I think the whole world should know.

I plan to return to BBG on a better day. Today was only a tiny taste of what this sixty-six acre botanical garden offers. Was it worth it?

I think so, if not for the photographs, then for the chance to meet a nice man like Jeff Colvin.