[Gunma Prefecture, Nakanojo Town] How to Enjoy Nakanojo Gardens in Autumn

• Table of Contents
• What is Nakanojo Gardens?
• Highlights of the Autumn Rose Garden Fair
• 1. Rose Garden
• 2. Spiral Garden
• 3. Meadow Pass
• 4. Natural Garden
• 5. The Fields and Mountains of My Hometown
• Autumn Rose Garden Fair Overview
• Collaboration with the work of sculptor Nobuharu Asano
• Events during the period

What is Nakanojo Gardens?

This is a collection of gardens consisting of seven gardens and a farm area. Each garden has its own unique world, created by professional gardeners, and you can enjoy hundreds of types of flowers and plants.

Based on the concept of "a garden where everyone can discover something new, whenever and wherever they walk," the garden has been designed and planted with great care to ensure that visitors can make new discoveries in different seasons and on different occasions.The garden is a base for promoting not only the enjoyment of flowers and plants, but also local food and specialties.

Nakanojo Gardens

377-0433 2411 Orita, Nakanojo-cho, Agatsuma-gun, Gunma Prefecture

The 12-hectare park is made up of seven gardens and a farm area. You can enjoy seasonal flowers, such as a thousand peach blossoms blooming on the hillside and a colorful English garden supervised by one of Japan's leading garden designers. In addition to enjoying flowers, the park is also a base for promoting local foods and specialty products.

Highlights of the Autumn Rose Garden Fair

Nakanojo Gardens will be holding the Autumn Rose Garden Fair from Saturday, September 27th to Sunday, October 19th, 2025!

The rose garden will be filled with 1,000 autumn roses of 400 varieties and themed flowers, all of which will be in full bloom. Five gardens designed by four different designers will also be in full bloom.

Furthermore, from Saturday, September 13th to Monday, October 13th (national holiday), the park will be one of the venues for the international art festival "Nakanojo Biennale 2025," and the works of sculptor Nobuharu Asano will be exhibited throughout the park. Sculptural expressions based on the theme of "Trickster's gardens," or "unusual gardens," will be added to the gardens where each gardener expresses their own view of nature.

General planner Hiromitsu Yoshiya was in charge of the overall landscape design of the garden, which everyone can enjoy comfortably. Three professional gardeners then added their own ideas to the garden's planting design, creating a space where people and plants live in harmony.

Here are five gardens that are in full bloom!

1. Rose Garden

Planting design: Shinji Kawai (rose breeder, planting planner)

The garden is divided into seven small rooms with different themes, allowing you to enjoy the colors, scents, and atmosphere of each. Not only can you enjoy the charm of the 400 different types of roses, but the ground cover is also designed to match the theme.

The Rose Terrace is especially recommended in autumn. This peaceful area offers views of the autumn roses, which have an even more gorgeous fragrance due to the temperature difference between day and night, as well as the soft texture of the grass and the expansive Spiral Garden.

2. Spiral Garden

Planting design: Keiko Yoshiya (British horticulture researcher, garden designer)

The Asama Rock flowerbed is a spiral-shaped flowerbed with a diameter of 40m. It is filled with perennials and other flowers that are grown without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

The plants are colored in a gradation towards the center, making this a garden that makes you want to walk further and further.

Like bees and butterflies, you can experience being immersed in nature, surrounded by flowers and plants, searching for your favorite plants.

3. Meadow Pass

Planting design: Moriyama Kanako (head gardener, Nakanojo Gardens)

The garden was designed with the aim of creating a thriving garden, with annual seeds added to wild plants that would normally be called weeds, and with minimal human intervention. The natural atmosphere of the cosmos flowers is captivating.

4. Natural Garden

Planting design: Keiko Yoshiya (British horticulture researcher, garden designer)

This 350 square meter natural-style garden is centered around perennial plants. The plantings are mainly in muted pink and red tones, which match the iconic red shed visible in the background.

In autumn, along with the autumn leaves, the red spikes of Muehlenbergia and red dahlias stand out against the autumn sky.

By combining plants with different textures, the beauty of the structure of the withered plants (seed heads) after the flowers have finished blooming is highlighted, making it one of the highlights.

5. The Fields and Mountains of My Hometown

Structural design: Hiromitsu Yoshiya (Nakanojo Gardens general planner and garden designer)

This is a place that recreates the original landscape of Nakanojo's Satoyama. The plants were planted by Mr. Fukuda Tomoyoshi, who has been a driving force behind Nakanojo's "flower town development."

On the banks of Nozori Pond, a replica of the naturally rich Lake Nozori, also known as the Lake in the Sky, you might be able to spot the migratory chestnut tiger butterfly that gathers around the Fujibakama (Eupatorium japonica) flowers (until early October).

Autumn Rose Garden Fair Overview

Dates: Saturday, September 27th, 2025 - Sunday, October 19th, 2025

Opening: 9:00-17:00 (last entry 16:30)

Closed: No closing days during the period, open every day (usually closed on Thursdays and the day after public holidays, but open during peak season)

Admission fee: 1,200 yen for adults / 600 yen for elementary and junior high school students *Prices may vary depending on the best time to see the flowers

Collaboration with the work of sculptor Nobuharu Asano

During the Nakanojo Biennale international art festival, which runs from Saturday, September 13th to Monday, October 13th (national holiday), the sculpture "*Trickster" can be viewed in five areas of the park.

With the theme of "Trickster's gardens," you can enjoy a stroll with these creatures as they blend into nature, including in waterfalls, on hills, on stumps, and on small islands.

*A sculpture by Nobuharu Asano, it is a strange creature with three legs. Various patterns are carved into its black body.

For more information about the Nakanojo Biennale, please see this article.

Events during the period

In the garden's "Red Hut," the head gardener will be hosting an event where you can enjoy interacting more deeply with the flowers.

Tanpopo serves as a cultural hub for Nakanojo and its surrounding areas, and plans events primarily related to food. It will also hold a collaborative event with sculptor Asano.

・Garden Walk: The head gardener will guide you through the Naturalistic Garden (10/11 and 10/12 / Meet at the red hut / No reservation required / Free)

・Haruhana Farm Mobile Seedling Sales: Recommended perennial plant seedlings for sale (10/12 11:00~ / approx. 50 mins / Red hut)

New Rice and Autumn Side Dish Market: Nakanojo's brand rice "Hana Yukari" will be available for free, and there will be stalls selling rice accompaniments. (Scheduled for 10/12 10:00-15:00 / Tanpopo)

・Trickster Foster Parent Exchange Event: An event for foster parents who own Tricksters. Bring your Trickster and take group photos. (10/5 13:00~ / approx. 2 hours / Tanpopo)