These are photographs of the University of Illinois Japan House strolling garden, gravel garden, and tea garden and their environs.   I shot these on the coldest day so far in 2011.  Why?  Because tomorrow is forecast to be even colder.  I hope you get a sense of winter at Japan House.  The tea garden is closed this time of year, but I managed to get some pictures through the fence.  Come back again in spring when the fifty cherry blossom trees are blooming.

photographs by Jeanne Holy

In March of 2010 I had an opportunity to accompany Special Visiting Professor Kuniyoshi Tsuchiya for a visit to the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.  The Chihuly glass sculpture entitled "The Desert Towers", designed especially for the Phoenix garden, is on display at the entrance.  Hopefully it will become a permanent installation, through donations from the public.  At the exit of our garden tour we were treated to a walk through a butterfly enclosure.

photographs by Jeanne Holy

These photographs were taken on a stroll through the Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco, the oldest public Japanese garden in the United States.  If you have a chance to see it ... just go, it is gorgeous.  The time of year was late January.  Enjoy your virtual stroll.

photographs by Jeanne Holy