Koko-en Garden, Himeji

Next to Himeji Castle is a traditional Japanese garden, the Koko-en Garden (好古園). If you're there it's certainly worth the time.

As you'd expect it's beautiful, with waterfalls and shady trees.

Of course there are ponds.

There are a couple of indoor spaces too. There's something magical about wandering through a traditional garden like this in Japan.

After this we headed back to the bullet train, and finished the route to Osaka where we stayed for a couple of days. Lots more photos to come - I hope you're not bored with my vacation shots yet!

Our World Tuesday

Bellevue Botanic Garden Trees

For Scenic Sunday, here's my last post from the Bellevue Botanic Garden, of some trees. Since I was limiting myself to my 50-mm lens for this whole garden (approximately 75mm equivalent in 35mm film terms) I found it quite a challenge to get some worthwhile upwards-looking tree photos. Nevertheless, I liked the deciduous and evergreen combination in this first shot, despite the dull grey (soon to rain) sky.

And I liked the shape of the primary tree in this second shot.

And that's all from the Bellevue Botanic Garden. But there will be more scenic photos next week! Maybe something closer to where I live. And thanks to Clytie for pointing out the giant heart in the first shot, and linking it to Guest Heart Thursday!

Bellevue Botanic Garden Trail

Here are a couple more photos from the lovely (and free) Bellevue Botanic Garden, this time some very green shots from the trail. It's very rainy here!

For more scenery, wet and dry, visit the Scenic Sunday meme.

Watery Bellevue Botanic Gardens

Continuing my tour of the Bellevue Botanic Gardens, here are some of the lovely water features, in the grey light from the cloudy and rainy day when I was there.

The next one was taken through some leaves, with a very wide aperture to blur those leaves and create a frame for the water. I'm not sure it's completely successful.

But I did like this green reflection.

I think this is appropriate to link to both Water Wednesday and Scenic Sunday. Visit both memes for lots of great photos!

Bellevue Botanic Gardens Flowers

While staying in Bellevue earlier this year, I took the opportunity to visit the Bellevue Botanical Garden, which was close to our hotel. I was impressed, and I've decided to start posting some of the photos from my visit. Here are some of the flowers which I enjoyed. It was a cloudy day, raining by the time that I left, but I was still happy with some of the photographic results.

Every photo I took in this garden was taken with my Sigma 50mm f/1.4 lens - there wasn't much light, and I really wanted to experiment with using a single non-zoom lens in the field as well as trying a narrow depth of field, forcing me to actively compose the photos. There are several more posts to come from this area. But until then, visit Scenic Sunday for more scenic shots around the world.

DC - U.S. Botanic Garden

Also on the National Mall, very near the Capitol, is the U.S. Botanic Garden, a beautiful, relaxing spot to get away from the crowds.