LA Sunday - Huntington Gardens 3 of 3

After the Japanese portion of the Garden, we went to the recently installed Chinese Garden, also known as the "Garden of Flowing Fragrance". As this garden has only recently begun, the bones of the garden are found in the architecture, as opposed to the plantings. Therefore, not much fragrance flowing just yet. From the Japanese Garden, you enter the Chinese Garden into a walled courtyard, with chrysanthemum imagery in the windows and lotus on the end caps of the roof tiles.

The floor of the courtyard, "Plantain Court", is an amazing job of interlocking panels of stone - round white rocks tipped on the side to make the inner medallions with black rocks in linear fashion to make the borders. Something to remember, if I ever have a courtyard garden. It might be difficult to sweep up and be hard on bare feet tho. Mmmm. Keep thinking then.

The centerpiece of the garden is the "Lake of Reflected Fragrance", not quite balanced as of our visit. But there are vistas from every vantage point. The lake is actually located on a piece of land which naturally collects water during the rain, however, we haven't had rain for quite some time. The limestone rocks surrounding the lake are supposed to represent the craggy mountains in Chinese paintings.

Passing through the "Corridor of Water & Clouds" was a joy. The "Wall of Water & Clouds" was topped with more of the roofing tiles from the entry wall, waving across the top in an echo of either a wave or the far mountain peaks. Each of the windows to the far side had a different pattern of fretwork installed and the zig-zag path lead us to the next place of beauty.

The "Love for the Lotus" pavilion is an intricate piece of architecture, with more to "find and seek" than I can imagine. There is fretwork and carving and views and and and...

Unfortunately, by this time, the docents of the garden were starting to herd visitors toward the entrance/exit of the garden, so we were not able to make it all the way around the Lake. One of the views, so exquisitely framed, was the "Pavilion of Three Friends" where bamboo, pine & plum share a grove.

At the exit we were greeted by this Chinese "Lion Dog". All in all, the Huntington Gardens and Library are worth several repeat visits. If you are ever in the LA area, make the trip to Pasadena to go. We arrived in the afternoon, and were only able to visit three of the FOURTEEN!!!! different gardens, let alone any of the art or library exhibits. I hear tale that the Children's Garden is awesome and the Conservatory has quite a collection of the odd and unique plants.

I had a blast on my trip to LA, not only because of the things we saw, but because of the people I was with. It was good to have a girly weekend, and to take a solo trip. I think that all women should feel comfortable and have the opportunity to take trips alone. There's a sense of - power? accomplishment? satisfaction? some of all, but not in a bad way - in fending for yourself, taking the time to stop when you want to, to not worry about anyone else's schedule, and taking a trip by yourself. Do it.