I had one more garden on my list to view wisteria, Yokosuka Shobuen. Yokosuka Shobuen is actually known for being one of the largest iris gardens in Japan. The wisteria is an added bonus. The garden has over 140,000 iris. They were beginning to sprout but, not yet in bloom. Guess, I will be returning next month!
The garden opened at 9:00am. I decided to drive because my research told me there was plenty of parking. I arrived 9:30 and was ahead of the crowds. Here was my route.
The funniest part was the Japanese parking attendant coming over to my car after I parked. Following the protocol, I backed into the spot. However, I parked the Hooptie a little crooked. The attendant came over and asked me to re-park with her assistant, of course. Haha! If she only knew crooked parking is pretty much how I roll. Or stop rolling for that matter.
Moving on to the garden. The entry ticket was self-service. Fortunately, there was English.
Also, remember yesterday I mentioned the carp streamers being hung for Children’s Day. There were some at the garden entrance.
The wisteria was delightful. The garden wasn’t very large, I was able to walk around the entire garden in about an hour. I took a lot of pictures. I’ll share my favorites. Hopefully, not too many.
Here is the view when entering the garden. The beds in the foreground are the iris.
The first stop was the wisteria arbor.
The path then led to the wisteria garden. There were so many different colors. The scent was intoxicating!
The path then took me through a wisteria tunnel. So much pink and purple! It was magical.
The next area was the trellis of Japanese wisteria. There were actually several trellises. One was set up for hanami.
The others were a little lower and beautiful as well. More pink and purple!
I couldn’t resist a wisteria selfie.
My other favorite thing to do was to literally stand under / inside the wisteria.
In closing, a few close-up shots of the blooms. Do you have a favorite? Pink or purple?
