Jindai Botanical Garden, Botanical garden and metropolitan park in Chofu, Japan
Jindai Botanical Garden is a Tokyo metropolitan botanical garden in Chofu, covering 425,433 square metres. Its thirty numbered areas each feature one kind of plant, among them a rose garden laid out as a sunken garden with a fountain, a cherry grove, a plum grove and an azalea collection. About 100,000 trees and shrubs of roughly 4,500 varieties carry identifying labels.
The land served as a fortress site in the 16th century before becoming a public green space in the 20th century. The garden opened in 1961, making it one of the first public botanical gardens in the Tokyo urban area.
The garden is named after Jindaiji Temple, the second oldest Buddhist temple in Tokyo, just downhill from the grounds. The plum garden holds about 70 varieties and 170 trees, including old cultivars such as Kōtōji and Yaekankō, and the garden hosts a plum festival. The rose garden won the World Federation of Rose Societies Award of Garden Excellence in 2009.
The garden is closed on Mondays, or the next day when Monday is a national holiday, and from December 29 to January 1. Last entry is at 16:00, though the greenhouse and aquatic plant garden stay open until 16:30. On weekends during cherry blossom season and the spring and autumn rose festivals, the gates may open at 8:00. Wheelchairs and strollers can be borrowed on site.
The greenhouse inside the garden is divided into six climate zones, ranging from tropical trees to carnivorous plants and aquatic species, all under one roof. A wooded section at the far end of the grounds draws bird species from the surrounding area that visitors can often spot from the paths.
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