The Hakone Wetland Botanical Garden is a botanical garden focusing on plants that grow in marshes, rivers, lakes and other wetlands. In addition to 200 species of wetland plants scattered all over Japan from lowland to alpine, 1100 species of grassland, forest, and alpine plants are collected in the garden, and about 1700 species of plants, including rare foreign wildflowers, bloom in every season. The park path takes you from lowland to alpine, from early marshland to developed marshland, in order to see the plants in order.

 

Winter closure: December 01, 2020 – March 19, 2021

 

Seasonal flowers March

The witch hazel and zazen grass welcome us with the arrival of spring.

Asian skunk-cabbage (Lysichiton camtschatcensis) begins to bloom in sunny areas.

 

Seasonal flowers April

The best time to see Asian skunk-cabbage and Asian Fawnlily (Erythronium japonicum)is early April. The skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus renifolius) flowers are past their prime.

As the days go by, the variety of flowers in the park increases.

 

Seasonal Flowers May

From the end of the holidays to June, the Hakone Wetlands Garden is at its most spectacular. The marshlands are filled with cherry blossom primrose (Primula siebodii) and Japanese iris (Iris laevigata), and the alpine flower fields are filled with black lilies and yellow-eyed camellias. The change of season from early spring to spring is easily affected by the weather of the year and the flowering season may be delayed.

 

Seasonal flowers June

This is the most beautiful time of the year, when the marshland is filled with flowers such as nikko-kisuge (Hererocallis dumortieri), Japanese water iris (Iris ensata), and crested ibis (Pogonia japonica).

Seasonal Flowers July

In early July, the Japanese iris, a representative flower of Sengokuhara Marsh, is in full bloom at the Sengokuhara Marsh Vegetation Restoration Experimental Zone.

 

Seasonal flowers August

Sengokuhara, where the Hakone Wetland Flower Garden is located, is 650 meters above sea level. It is a cool place to escape the humid heat of summer in Japan. After the Bon Festival of the lunar calendar, the autumn flowers begin to bloom.

 

The park can also be divided into the flower habitat types.

 

1. Wet forest plants

This is a collection of trees that grow in wetlands in Japan, mainly alder (Alnus japonica), and karakogi maple (Acer ginnala). From late March to mid-April, Asian skunk cabbage flowers bloom all over the bottom of the forest.

 

1. Plants in lowland marshes

This model is based on the marshlands that form around rivers and lakes. In spring, about 20,000 Asian skunk-cabbage plants bloom, followed by primrose, fringed water lily (Nymphoides peltata), and morning glory(Convolvulaceae).

 

1. Plants in the silver grass meadow

This area is a collection of plants that grow in grass meadows.

In this area, plants that are familiar to Japanese people, such as Japanese bellflower (Platycodon grandiflorus), great burnet (Sanguisorba officinalis), kawara carnation (Dianthus superbus longicalycinus), and ominaeshi (Patrinia scabiosifolia) bloom. The flowers are at their peak from August to September when the seven autumnal flowers are in bloom.

 

1. Plants in broad-leaved forests

The deciduous broad-leaved trees found in Hakone, such as beech (Quercus serrata), zelkova (Zelkova serrata), himeshara (Stewartia monadelpha), and Japanese dogwood (Benthamia kousa) are collected here. In the forest, there are many species of flowers, such as the trout lily (Erythronium japanicum), liverwort (Anemone hepatica), shrimp root orchid (Calanthe discolor), mountain lilies (Lilium auratum), and wolf’s bane (Aconitum) that bloom one after another from spring to autumn.

 

1. Sengokuhara Marsh Vegetation Restoration Area

In the Sengokuhara Marshland Vegetation Restoration Zone, we have been practicing grassland management such as fire burning and mowing. We are trying to restore and maintain the marshland vegetation of Sengokuhara which was once said to be like a flower garden.

 

1. Plants of Sengokuhara Marsh

This is a collection of marshland plants that grow in Hakone Sengokuhara. The adjacent Sengokuhara Marsh is the only marshland in Kanagawa Prefecture. Starting with the Japanese iris in late June, plants such as lilies, belfowers, veronica can be seen here.

 

1. Plants in the Numagaya Grassland

This is a marshland where the Nikkoukisuge (Hemerocallidaceae), Japanese iris, Asama-furo, Ezo-gindou and other large flowers bloom in clusters.

The best time to see the flowers is in June.

 

H Alpine flower garden and rocky plant area

This area features typical Japanese alpine plants that grow on Mt. Fuji and Mt. Daisetsu in Hokkaido. In Sengokuhara, which is 650 meters above sea level, Komakusa (Dicentra peregrina) and black lilies bloom in May and June, earlier than in their native habitat. In the rocky plant area you can enjoy the pretty flowers that bloom on the damp rocks.

 

1. Highland marshland plants

This area is modeled after the moss swamps that develop in alpine and cold regions such as Oze in the mountains of Fukushima and the Sarobetsu wilderness of Hokkaido. In this marsh, which is strongly acidic and low in nutrients, there are many small plants such as orchids, Rhododendrons, and carnivorous plants such as sundew (Drosera rotundifolia) can also be seen.