The landscape of Kubota Garden looks at once completely, utterly natural, and laden with purpose—perhaps the ultimate achievement of its designer’s fifty years of care and planning. Japanese immigrant Fujitaro Kubota bought the original five-acre parcel of the garden in the 1920s, tending to and expanding it over his life to encompass twenty acres. The foliage now seems to flow like water, colors popping in childlike sprays. You don’t need to understand the deep-rooted philosophy behind the design of each vignette; the garden conveys it with the ease of a smile. When you’re feeling frustrated or angry, get yourself to the stroll garden in the northern part of the park and marvel at the smallness of you amidst the grandness of the diminutive grove. A bigger marvel still, all this exists in a former swamp off exit 158 south of Boeing Field. MAGGIE SAVARINO

Wed., Sept. 16, 6 a.m.-11 p.m., 2009