Chilly, misty, and wet — a perfect Southern California winter’s day. I headed over to the Huntington Gardens, which are stunning in the rain, especially the Chinese garden, The Garden of Flowing Fragrance, which opened to the public last year on February 23. Many things have changed in the garden in 12 months — the magnificent old magnolia placed in the courtyard didn’t make it; it’s been replaced by a young one. We’ll have to be patient.

The rain makes me think we can experience this scholar’s garden as the real scholars might have in similar gardens in 16th and 17th century Suzhou and Hangzhou. That’s just my fantasy, of course.

But go if you can. This weekend is forecast to bring more rain; it is also the camellia festival. (I bought a white-blooming beauty.) Take an umbrella.

To read the piece I wrote for the L.A. Times on the Garden of Flowing Fragrance, published on Valentine’s Day last year, please see http://www.paulapanich.com/chinese-garden.htm