This garden was established as a research facility in 1950. Since then, it has endeavored to collect and preserve plants and trees, and its approximately 25.5-hectare grounds contain 30,000 plants from 6,000 species. Considerable effort has been put into the collection of native Japanese trees in particular, with one display recreating the 11 representative forest varieties of Japan. There is also a focus on the cultivation of plants in danger of extinction. Spread across three valleys and four ridges, the gardens are located at the foot of the Ikoma Mountains. In addition to a garden of native Japanese trees, visitors can also admire dawn redwoods in the foreign species arboretum. Other facilities here include the flower and tree garden, the mushroom and bamboo grass garden, the desert garden (collecting dry-soil plant species), and rest areas. With about 300 flowering cherry trees in spring, cotton rosemallow and hibiscus in summer, bush clover and sweet olive in fall, and about 600 camellias and 100 plums fiercely bloom in winter, you can enjoy all the expressions of the changing seasons.