South Seattle: The Secret Garden

With spring rapidly approaching, it’s a nice time to find a couple new and interesting places to take your Gore-Tex for a walk. I happen to love the Kubota Garden, a Japanese style garden in the Rainier Beach area, which uses many indigenous Northwest plants. It doesn’t have the intensely manicured fastidiousness of the Arboretum’s Japanese Garden because it embraces a more natural style and more surface area. The Arboretum’s Japanese Garden is only 3 1/2 acres, but Kubota clocks in with an amazing 20 acres, so it’s big enough for a ramble. Some paths in the park are so secluded, it’s hard to believe that the grounds are surrounded by urban living. And even better, the Kubota Garden has free admission!

Definitely plan on seeing the garden when the azaleas and magnolias are in bloom, especially if you’re trying to impress someone (hint: dates and out-of-town relatives) with your insider knowledge of rarely visited Seattle sites.