Street Address:
Normandale Community College
9700 France Avenue South
Bloomington, MN 55431
Phone Number:
952 832-6000
Website: www.normandale.edu/japanesegarden
Run by:
Normandale Community College
Date Established:
1976
Size:
2 acres
Designer:
Takao Watanabe
Cost:
No admission fee
Nominal charge for self-guiding brochure
Peak Season:
Summer
Extras:
Guided tours can be arranged for groups for a fee
Restrooms - in nearby buildings
Free parking in lots near garden entrance
Weddings can be scheduled in the garden
Comments:
This Japanese strolling garden was instigated by the Bloomington Affiliated Garden Clubs in 1964 when the college campus was still being developed. The garden clubs raised the $75,000 to build the garden while the college donated its two acres of land, including a portion of the Green Heron pond that is on school property and lends considerable "borrowed" landscape to the garden. Much was donated to the garden (sand, fill, plants, structures) as were the design services of Takao Watanabe, who was the landscape architect for the Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The garden is over-flowing with Japanese garden elements; a gated entrance, multiple bridges, stone lanterns, shelters, symbolic islands, rocks, streams and waterfalls. Plant materials, though mostly not those used in Japan due to climate differences, reflect the reserved use of flowering plants that is traditional in Japan. Variations in tones and textures of green predominate and woody plant materials are trimmed or pruned to specific aesthetic goals. Paths are tarred.
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