I have been visiting the garden every year during the iris season for the past three years. This year, I stopped by the Hori-kiri Iris Garden(Hana-shobu Garden), which was featured in “Famous100 Views of Edo” series photo walk, as part of a combined trip with the Hori-kiri location (mentioned in my previous article).
The flowers were just beginning to bloom, probably a week or two too early for peak blooming, and the weather was threatening rain, so even on a Sunday, the garden was sparsely populated with both flowers and visitors.
Although there were few people, so I could take my time walking around, it was difficult to capture photos like “a garden full of flowers.” I could only get close to the few blooming plants.
Nevertheless, they are still beautiful and picturesque flowers.
However, due to the layout of this garden, it is not possible to get too close to the flowers, so even with a 35mm full-frame camera and a 24-105mm zoom lens, I often find myself in a situation where I need a bit more reach. It’s frustrating not being able to get a few more steps closer.
Not only the irises, but also the water lilies in the pond, which were blooming vigorously, were attractive subjects. I wanted to get a little closer to these as well.
That said, this wasn’t my first time at Horikiri Iris Garden, so I knew to expect this kind of situation when I visited with only my S5 and 24-105mm. I guess the key is to enjoy the inconvenience and make do with what you have, choosing your subjects carefully and using your feet to get around.
By the way, Hana-shobu, Ayame, and Kakitsubata are very similar flowers, and no matter how many times I’m told, I can’t tell them apart. It’s a bit embarrassing how insensitive I am to such details, but apparently in English, all of these are simply called “iris” and not distinguished from one another. Perhaps there are fewer types of iris in Britain, or maybe British people are just as careless as I am when it comes to such things.
The last photo is of a plant that, in my mind, represents the most typical color and shape of an “iris”, given my inability to distinguish between them.
That’s all for today’s post about stopping by Horikiri Iris Garden on the way back from photographing the 100 Famous Views of Edo.
