This garden is one of the Paradise Garden Collection at Hamilton Gardens in New Zealand and follows on from my previous post.
Japanese Garden of Contemplation
Fluid echoes dance –
Ripples of sun and water
Hold dreams in the eaves
~ Vonnie Hughes, Auckland (winner of the Hamilton Gardens Japanese Poetry Compettion 1998
Japanese Garden of Contemplation
A Pagoda
Take time to contemplate the carefully laid out arrangements from your seat in the Abbott’s Quarters and watch your mind relax as you view the serene landscape. This is a garden that embraces contradiction in all its forms: you will see contradictory pairs such as movement/stillness, complexity/simplicity, vastness/ smallness, and even wet/dry.
The Scroll Garden
Swallow
The Zen Garden
Earth laughs in flowers 
Gorgeous 🙂
Thank you!
Serene and stunning.
Oriental gardens have that quality don’t they?
We have a gorgeous Japanese Garden here in my city. It is lovely in Autumn and Spring.
So serene!
Very peaceful I’m sure but too stark for me!
Oh that really is paradise! That’s somewhere that I could happily sit for hours enjoying nature and maybe writing a few poems 🙂
Yes it is a very contemplative garden and the swallows were a delight.
The perfect bird for such a setting 🙂
Looks like a beautiful place to relax and breathe. A little yoga maybe? 🙂
If you like… 🙂
I don’t know why I’m draw to things Japanese – haiku, tea ceremony, minimalist gardens, Ikebana (but not bonsai) – when I’m also drawn to the baroque. Your header captures the meditative feeling beautifully. Have you been to Kyoto?
I don’t get it either. I love flowers and colours, but Oriental gardens fill me with such peace and they contain neither – well, Chinese gardens usually have a bit of red, but in structures not plants. Perhaps I should think about having a courtyard garden instead of a flower garden. Mmm…
Oh, and no I haven’t visited Japan, though I did have the opportunity to do so several years ago as OH attended a conference there. I just didn’t fancy the long flight at the time. Stupid of me, I think I would have loved it there!
I’m loving all these posts on the beautiful Hamilton Gardens Jude. You have captured the serenity.
How can an amazing space like this be free to the public PP? It must take a lot of cash to maintain and redesign this garden. I could spend a lot of time here.
It would be a joy to be a “friend of these gardens” and help with the maintenance.