Missouri Botanical Chinese and Japanese Garden Tour 2016

Video of a visit to the Missouri Botanical Garden from May, 2016 in St. Louis, Missouri. The 14-acre Japanese Garden was dedicated in 1977, and is one of the largest in North America. The garden is named "Seiwa-en" which means "Garden of pure, clear harmony and peace" .A four-acre lake is complemented with waterfalls, streams, and water-filled basins. Dry gravel gardens are raked into beautiful, rippling patterns. Four islands rise from the lake to form symbolic images. Several Japanese bridges link shorelines; families delight in the feeding of the giant “koi” (Japanese carp).
As you can see in the video the Chinese Garden currently is undergoing renovation.The Margaret Grigg Nanjing Friendship Garden at the Missouri Botanical Garden is modeled on the “scholar’s gardens” of the southern provinces of China, near Nanjing, which are smaller and less ornate than the Imperial gardens of the north. Designed by Chinese-born architect Yong Pan, this garden is a showplace of extraordinary craftsmanship.
It is often said that a Chinese garden is built, not planted. The architectural elements were designed and built by Chinese artisans in Nanjing, China using the traditional colors indicative of a southern Chinese Garden: black, white, gray and reddish brown for the different elements such as the walls, pavilion, bridges, and blue stone pavings with their exquisite mosaic designs. The pavilion, marble bridge and marble balustrade were painstakingly reconstructed at the Missouri Botanical Garden during the summer of 1996, under the watchful eye of five experts from the Nanjing Municipal Bureau of Urban Parks and Open Space Administration. The Garden commemorates the longstanding scientific and cultural exchanges between the Missouri Botanical Garden and Chinese botanical institutions, and honors the sister city relationship between St. Louis, Mo. and Nanjing, China.
In the Nanjing Friendship Garden a hand-carved white marble bridge with a moon arch beneath traverses a narrow mountain stream that cascades over several small falls, feeding into the central pond at the heart of the garden. The hand carved white marble balustrade sits across the pond complementing the bridge. Five stones are strategically placed in the pond, symbolizing the five sacred mountains in China, while rocks from both China and Missouri have been selected for placement at the stream and water’s edge.