Overview

from 2019 Master Plan Update

What makes Kubota Garden unique is its history as an evolving working landscape that supported three generations of the Kubota family with a secondary function as a community gathering place. Unlike the Portland Japanese Garden and the Seattle Japanese Garden in the Arboretum, Kubota Garden was not precisely planned. Mr. Kubota was an innately talented self-taught garden designer drawing upon selected Japanese garden elements, using the plants and locally available materials to shape his gardens in ways that made him happy, and more importantly, showed his clients what they could expect from the Kubota Landscape Company. Tom Kubota noted that his father had said “he couldn’t relate to the clients what he wants to do, so he’d have them come to the gardens, and he’d point out a place and (say) your place will look like this in certain areas and so forth, so it was a showplace to the customer what he’s going to do for them.” (Don Brooks interview with Tom Kubota, Tom_Kubota_Tape1.mp4). 
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Mr. Kubota purchased the Renton Avenue property in 1927, moved his gardening business, and implemented three design projects: the Rockery Wall Showcase, the circular lawn areas and road system, and the Necklace of Ponds. All three were completed by 1930, along with nursery and sod areas. Why were these areas completed first? The Rockery Wall Showcase, the lawn areas and the Necklace of Ponds were envisioned as sales rooms. This also meant that the plants, rocks, and sod were often sold to customers and used in Kubota Gardening Company landscaping projects. An example of this is highlighted in a Seattle Times article from September 29, 1929 showing Kubota sod being unrolled in front of the Rainier Club in downtown Seattle. ​

Fujitaro Kubota (left) supervising one of his projects, Seattle University, 1965

Construction of new garden spaces continued through the 1930’s, likely starting with the Lily Pond, Rose Garden and Planting Island, all completed prior to 1936. The Japanese Garden was completed between 1938 to 1940. Kubota continued to improve and upgrade the Necklace of Ponds from 1935 through the mid-1970’s, and the Mountainside was last major garden to be completed in 1962. 
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There are several lost gardens based on a review of historic photos and aerial imagery. Gone are the Log Entry Gate and business sign on the Renton Avenue entrance. The Lily Pond, Planting Island, and Rose Garden were once featured aspects of the business and existed in some form from the mid-1930’s to 1942. The Rockery Wall Showcase may still lurk under the mature plantings (if its rocks were not used in residential projects) that currently serve as a green backdrop to the Tom Kubota Stroll Garden. ​

Creek running under Heart Bridge, 1930

After Mr. Kubota’s death in 1973, his sons and grandson maintained both the business and property, eventually selling the property to Seattle Parks in 1987. Since then, the Kubota Garden Foundation and Seattle Parks staff have worked hard to bring the gardens to a level that would meet the Department’s standards for visitor safety and comfort. Since 1991, more than 60 projects were carried out, from fencing, pond dredging, and bridge restoration to the new terrace overlook, ornamental gate and walls, informational kiosk, and the maintenance facility and yard. New gardens were also added: the Tom Kubota Stroll Garden (2001), the Entry Stone Garden (2004), the Stone Garden (2012), the Terrace Overlook (2015) and the Maple Woods (2016). Two of the consistent themes in Kubota Garden are change and adaptation.