Hi.. Back to Japan we go. Still in Shikoku Prefecture, Kochi City.
Right next to the shrine from the last Japan post, is the Makino Botanical Gardens.
I seem to have failed to get some outside pictures of the amazing cafe and the full pic of the massive greenhouse.
Still… I will bombard you with photos of plants that were inside.
There was this cool tower entrance to the greenhouse too!
The garden is named in honor of the botanist, Dr Tomitaro Makino. (Known as the father of Japanese Botany)
It has over 3000 plant species – both indoor and out and features varieties discovered by Dr Makino.
The garden is about 8 hectares in size… we didn’t see even close to part of it.
We didn’t have time but we spent most of it in the greenhouse.
Through the spectacular entrance..
Then, so much colour and variety!
I’ll just pop in photos for you to enjoy without too much blather from me
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These are quite spectacular aren’t they?
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I am positive an incredible amount of work goes in to the maintenance of this place!
I especially loved the plants with the patterned leaves.
Not to mention the towering stands of bamboo
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I suppose I should show something for scale…
There is something… haha
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Lots of fun things hidden around
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These are pretty cool. No idea what they are… but I like them!
More cool leafy things
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Someone pointed out this hanging flower. I am still not sure what it is, but it must have been rare to see since they were keen to bring it to my attention!
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There was a neat feature that you could stand under and see the structure of the giant water lilies!
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Photo from up a level… you might have a small sense of the size of the place
It really was a wonderful place to wander through and admire.
Statue of Dr Makino
We didn’t spend a lot of time in the outside area. At the end of the season things were a little unkempt and we didn’t know what we were looking at most of the time, so we just enjoyed a bit of a stroll before heading back to catch a bus
We enjoyed the change of pace.
The coffee shop was nice for a rest and a drink.
They also had a lovely souvenir shop to wander through as well.
This was definitely worth an hour or two of our time!
xx
