Summer at the Kubota Garden, Seattle, Part 1

2014/08/21 by LM

While the Seattle Japanese Garden is a gorgeous example of a manicured Japanese garden, Kubota Garden, located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood, takes a different view of nature: it’s sprawling and almost wild.

The garden stands on 20 acres of land and began as 5 acres that Japanese immigrant Fujitaro Kubota purchased in 1927 “to display the beauty of the Northwest in a Japanese manner.” Kubota and his family developed the garden before and after their incarceration during WWII, and many of the plants are starters originally from the family’s nursery. The garden was declared a historical landmark and protected from developers, and in 1987, was acquired by the City of Seattle. (More history here.)

The garden just finished up Rock, People, Chisels, the building of a new ishigaki (石垣), a rock terrace, done in a 15th-century style with fitted stonework. (And a crane to help.) I’m looking forward to seeing the finished product!

I’ve divided this post into two parts because I took so many photos. Look for part 2 next week!