Water Gardens in Fort Worth

The Fort Worth Water Gardens, built in 1974, is located on the south end of downtown Fort Worth between Houston and Commerce Streets next to the Fort Worth Convention Center. The 4.3 acre  Water Gardens were designed by noted New York architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee and was dedicated to the City of Fort Worth by the Amon G. Carter Foundation.

The urban park is frequently billed as a "cooling oasis in the concrete jungle" of downtown. Its focal points are three pools of water and a terraced knoll, which helps to shield the park from adjacent Interstate 30. The quiet meditation pool is encircled with trees and features a flat, still plane of water that cascades almost 90 degrees down to a sunken walkway. The aerating pool features multiple spray fountains. The main attraction of the Water Gardens is the active pool which has water cascading 38 feet down terraces and steps into a small pool at the bottom. It also has over 500 species of plants and trees throughout the park.

The active pool was originally built for people to be able to walk down the terraced steps and experience the water tumbling around them. It was temporarily closed to the public after four people died there on June 16, 2004. Three children and one adult drowned after one of the children fell in the pool. It is mistakenly believed that the child jumped in to swim. The other three jumped in trying to save the child. The water was unusually deep due to a recirculating pump malfunction and heavy rains. The park was reopened in March 4, 2007 after being made safer by reducing the depth of the main pool from 9 ft to 2 ft.

Japanese Gardens-- Fort Worth Botanical Gardens

Scott Brooks, the Fort Worth Japanese Garden's senior gardener, reports:

The Fort Worth Japanese Garden was originally constructed with materials donated from numerous individuals, businesses, and institutions in north Texas and elsewhere in the USA. In the 1990s, Fort Worth's Japanese sister city, Nagaoka, donated an authentic Mikoshi (a sacred palanquin) to Fort Worth, which is currently housed within the garden's precincts. Several trees, including pines and flowering cherries, were similarly donated. Finally, Mr. Shigeichi Suzuki, a landscape architect from Nagaoka, donated plans for a karesansui-style addition to the Garden in 1997. The addition was completed in 2000, and is now called the 'Suzuki Garden'.

The Fort Worth Japanese Garden was built into a little valley, originally a gullied bluff, that opened onto the floodplain of the Trinity River's Clear Fork branch. Enlarged as a gravel quarry, the site also served at various times as a watering hole for cattle, a trash dump, and a squatter's camp. Today, the secluded valley serves as a Japanese-style 'stroll garden' (kaiyushiki teien).

At the heart of the landscape is a system of ponds, surrounded by hills (tsukiyama), and enclosed by a network of interconnected paths, pavilions, bridges, and decks. As the name implies, the garden unfolds as an ever-changing series of landscape perspectives to visitors who stroll along those thoroughfares. 

Dallas Bloom!

At the Dallas Arboretum each year they have a huge spring flower festival called Dallas Bloom. This year it ran from March 6 to April 11 and I wanted to make sure I went!!! Not only do I LOVE taking pictures of flowers but spring is my favorite time of the year. I could do without the tons of oak pollen and many other blooming things that I am allergic too but it just comes with the season.

Dallas Bloom was just stunning!! Even driving through the parking lot I was distracted by all the tulips and daffodils everywhere. Once I got inside the Arboretum it was just BEAUTIFUL :)  I only had just over an hour before the garden closed and I was determined to see the entire arboretum-- well lets just say that didn't happen. I was able to see most of the gardens but mostly I stayed near the fields of tulips which happened to be all over the arboretum!! I would recommend anyone in the Dallas area next March/April to definitely go, you won't regret it!!