A Week in Seattle - Kubota Garden

We spent our last night in the Seattle area at the home of some old friends in Tacoma. On our way south we stopped for a few hours to tour the Kubota Garden, in the Renton area near the Boeing Museum.


Fujitaro Kubota came to the U.S. from Japan in 1907 and taught himself how to garden and landscape. In 1923 he started the Kubota Gardening Company, installing Japanese gardens throughout the Seattle area.  In 1927 he acquired the first 5 acres of land that would eventually grow to a 20-acre nursery business. The City of Seattle acquired the Garden from the Kubota family in 1987, and the Parks Department and volunteers now maintain it. Admission is free, and there are almost no facilities. It is a very peaceful place to wander for a few hours.

There is a series of ponds and waterfalls that cascade down the side of a 65-foot tall mountain that was built in the 1960's with 400 tons of stone. A series of little trails switchback their way up the mountain, crossing ponds by way of artistically placed stones.

There is a huge assortment of plants and flowers.

Click here for more images from our visit to the Kubota Garden on June 18, 2010.
  
Click here for more galleries from our week in Seattle June 13 - 19, 2010.