The Garden
How It Began
In 1988, Huntsville landscape designer Robert Black asked a Monte Sano park ranger for permission to plant in a boggy, undeveloped corner of the park. What started as a personal hobby with his daughter became something more. Black designed and built the garden himself, choosing plants, placing stones, shaping paths.
Members of Huntsville's Japanese community encouraged him to add a tea house, which would give the space a distinctly Japanese character. Kozo Matsuda was instrumental in organizing the first annual Japanese Spring Festival in 1992, and the open-air tea house was completed in 1993.
Black continued tending the garden for years, building what he described as "a secret garden" on the mountainside.
Today, the North Alabama Japanese Garden Foundation and its volunteers maintain and improve the garden, keeping Black's vision alive while growing the space for future visitors.
What You'll Find
Tea House
The garden's signature structure, completed in 1993. During festivals, the open-air wooden pavilion becomes the setting for traditional Japanese tea ceremonies.
Pond
The garden includes a pond among its paths and plantings.
Red Bridges
Two red bridges cross streams that wind through the garden.
Bamboo Paths
Bamboo-lined walking paths wind through the garden, creating moments of enclosure and then opening to views across the garden or the mountainside.
Daikin Trail
A gravel walking path through the garden, supported by Daikin Alabama.
Native Plants
Japanese maples grow alongside native azaleas and plants adapted to the Monte Sano mountaintop. The garden preserves and works with the existing landscape rather than replacing it.
The Haiku Path
Twenty-four stones along a walking path, each etched with an original haiku by local poets, including Terri L. French and Peggy Hale Bilbro. French is published in Frogpond (the Haiku Society of America journal) and other national publications. The poems are original compositions inspired by local flora and fauna.
morning mist a deeper sink into solitude
Gallery
The gallery is being built. If you have photos of the garden you'd like to contribute, please get in touch.