I’ve been trying to spread my wings and find some weekday adventures that I can manage solo with the boys while Taylor is at work and it’s turned into me finding gardens in time for some beautiful seasonal blooms.
My first adventure was to Azalea Hill in Yokosuka. It was my first time driving to somewhere other than the base and I was so happy it went well. Easy drive and I went early so easy parking (it was super packed when I was leaving)! It was literally a hill with TONS of blooming azaleas. There were stairs and pathways throughout and at the top of the hill was a little garden area with some other flowers. The boys seemed to enjoy running up, it was only difficult to manage when they wanted to run in different directions, they are both so fast!
After watching the Demon Slayer anime series this winter I was really looking forward to seeing Wisteria flowers. There is some cool Wisteria lore in the anime, including the flowers protecting humans from demons. I was eyeing a garden that was north of Tokyo but then found out that the Yokosuka Iris Garden had them blooming, much closer than the other garden! I went early again so driving and parking was easy. The wisterias were absolutely gorgeous, I’ve never seen anything like them and it was a very peaceful experience watching them sway in the breeze. The iris flowers at the garden were not in bloom yet so it will be fun to go back and see those in bloom.
Random flowers near the entrance 
Iris setup 
There were some koi in here, the picture didn’t get them
Most recently, I visited the Yokohama English Garden. This garden was a little farther away and the trip turned into a full day trip, but a friend joined us so it was a more manageable trip with the littles. We decided to take the train up to Yokohama and then a shuttle bus from the train station to the garden. The garden was absolutely beautiful, such a dream! Apparently they have 1,800 different types of roses and we went when their spring roses were in full bloom. We missed part of the garden because the boys were acting like they needed some food, but that’s okay, we saw A LOT of flowers and I plan to go back someday to see it all again. Outside the garden they had a little café with outdoor seating so we got a bite to eat and then headed back home. On our trip back home the train ended up stopping for a hour because an accident with “personal injury”. Not sure exactly what happened, but that was the first time we had train issues here. Thankfully the boys handled the delay well, just made for one tired mama since Jonathan was in the carrier the whole time. Whew!
spotted a butterfly 
I think I’ve said it before, but spring is a dream here. Managing the boys on these trips is not always easy, but it’s definitely worth the effort visit these places.
BRB, Out to Japan – Jackie
Absolutely gorgeous! Thank you for sharing!!
Beautiful!!
I love all the pics of y’all and the bumblebee friend is so cute lol! Those gardens are glorious! ♡ so much love and care there. The hills of azaleas hardly even looked real ♡ I really love all the arbors and trellises for the wisteria and roses to grow up too.
Soooo beautiful!! 😍🌹🌺🌻🌼🌷