[OccabsLam]

Yesterday my girlfriend, her friend, and I went to a shrine that is best known for its azaleas and maples. The shrine is on the slopes of a small mountain and is literally covered in planted azaleas. Needless to say, when in flower it is an awe inspiring sight, however due to the continued cold weather we've been experiencing, only about 40% of the buds were open. The garden was ablaze with other things, as you'll see.

Here's a pretty typical view of garden - thousands of azaleas with a subcanopy of maples overhead, and an overstory of hinoki cypress.



Flowers are the main attraction to the garden. Here is an azalea that caught my eye, plus a lovely Calanthe, possibly C. discolor, but more likely a hybrid with that species.



The whole Calanthe clump. Very nice coloring on this baby.



Maples of all varieties abounded. Here is a lovely red form. The conifers in the background are hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) and sugi (Cryptomeria japonica).



The core of the garden is a lovely cove forest of older hinoki and sugi with lots of amazing maples. On a sunny day this place is just heaven on earth. Lucky us, it was a sunny, cool day!



Within this cove forest garden were several traditional design houses you can rent for private parties. Pretty beautiful stuff. Partying in the garden! Pricey, I'm sure.