By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

The transitory nature of beauty is a concept to be cherished, believe the Japanese.  They even have a term for it, "wabi-sabi".  Seasonal changes may not be dramatic in Southern California, but they can be found and should be embraced as Southern California writer Debra Baldwin suggested and demonstrated and we blogged about recently.

Want more drama?  How about these recent shots from the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois?

The photos were taken by Jean Warboy, a Sunset "alum."  Warboy used to be a book designer for Sunset.  And obviously she hasn't lost her great eye.  You can see more of her photos of this garden on Facebook.

The creator of the Anderson Japanese Gardens, Hoichi Kurisu, is well-known to Sunset's readers in the Pacific Northwest.  He was the director of landscaping of the Japanese Garden in Washington Park in Portland, Oregon between 1968-1972.  And later his firm, Kurisu International, spectacularly repaired and improved The Heavenly Waterfall in that garden when it was damaged in a severe ice storm ini 1997.