Shidare zakura at Heian Jingu Garden

Heian Jingu gardens are famous for their shidare zakuras, or as I call them, weeping sakuras. Plenty of beautiful pink sakura blossoms ala weeping willows style.



Thanks to my friends' advices, we went there a week later than we planned and we chose the perfect time to see them. According to the man who was in charge of the tickets, it was the sakuras' "pinkest" time. Ah...lucky us!



And indeed, the man was not kidding. The shidare zakuras were indeed in their peak and pink! The sight that greeted us was awesome. Lots of trees held up by carefully constructed frames.



All you could see was pink for a while until the path gave way to a pond, which would be beautiful in summer when the lilies bloom.



We went on a weekday so we managed to avoid the main crowd that descend to Kyoto during the weekends. The garden was huge; I did not expect it to be that big mainly because you could not see how big the gardens are from the outside.



I have to say again that the eye is still the best camera. I did not manage to capture the full beauty with my camera - it is a skill I have to learn.



I love the place and it is worth every yen. If you could not go to Heian Jingu, Kyoto Botanical Gardens is another place where you can see gorgeous shidare zakuras of different species.

For more pictures of Heian Jingu Gardens, please visit my flickr album.