A Walk Through Anderson Japanese Gardens

A Rockford, Illinois Haven

The Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, IL has become one of my favorite places to be in nature. It’s quiet (mostly) and has lovely paths to follow through various plants, a creek and even a waterfall.

This past June I went with a friend to explore a little with our cameras.

One of the bridges over Spring Creek. The paths cross over in a couple of places giving you a lovely view of the creek, trees and nature.

They offer public and private guided tours and group tours that cover the 12 acres. There is also a lovely restaurant on site with floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking the gardens. It’s a wonderful place to have lunch or sit and have a cup of tea.

With so many beautiful plants the gardens are the perfect spot for the wellness opportunities which they offer. From Awareness Walks and Sound/Gong Baths to Tai Chi and Yoga, I can’t imagine a much better location for any of these.

When I visit, I love to find the little snippets and small nature scenes beyond just the plants and flowers. I started a series a few years ago called “Nature’s Compositions”. It came about as I watched leaves floating and ending up in groupings that I found pleasing to my eye and lens.

Pointing the camera straight down on the floating compositions to preserve nature’s art as it was formed. I decided that these pieces needed to have a canvas texture to finish the thought if you will.

One of my favorite trees in the gardens is the Japanese Maple. Not only when they are fiery red in the fall, but in the spring and summer as well they keep a wonderfully warm red/orange color.

When the light shines through them, it’s magical.

I titled this one “Jazz Hands”. What else could it possibly be titled? Brilliant against the blue, puffy-clouded sky, I couldn’t resist these performers.

When I mentioned small snippets and scenes of nature, this is what I meant. This little sprout was on a moss-covered rock near the bottom of the waterfall. I’ll have to remember to see if it survived the winter.

The waterfall is around 20' high (totally guessing here as I could not find anything about its height). Maybe a bit higher than that. I’m going to keep searching until I find the answer!

All around the gardens, there are small waterfalls and water features like this fountain. You can sit on a rock, close your eyes and just ‘be’ or let your mind wander to a forest stream somewhere else.

The largest pond is great for reflections and a little bit of wildlife. There are plenty of turtles and ducks and also rather large koi. Fun to watch and again, sit back, relax and enjoy nature.

To visit or learn more about Anderson Japanese Gardens.

I hope you enjoyed a little wander through on a beautiful, June day.

Here are a couple of other stories I found here on Medium:

I am a photographer, educator, mentor & photo tour guide.

If I have to classify my work it’s mostly fine art photography. Based outside of Chicago, I enjoy photographing architecture, traveling as much as possible and just wandering in nature with my camera are my favorite things to do.

You can find more of my work in these galleries.

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