The National Trust for Historic Preservation, Save America's Treasures and Home & Garden Television honored the Hakone Gardens at a special presentation at the gardens on Oct. 28.

A special program on Hakone will air on HGTV all though this month.

During the ceremony, representatives of HGTV, the National Trust and Comcast Cable presented a check for $68,000 to Lon Saavedra, CEO of Hakone Gardens. A commemorative quilt block by artist Tom Russell was also presented during the ceremony.

Hakone is one of 12 sites chosen to be on HGTV's public affairs campaign, "Restore America: A Salute to Preservation." This is the second year of the HGTV campaign.

Bobbie Greene McCarthy, director of Save America's Treasures, National Trust for Historic Preservation, spoke at the event and said that she was spellbound when she first visited the Hakone Gardens.

"I was taken with it and came back to visit," she said. "We need to be better stewards of our historical treasures."

Phil Boyce, chairman of the board for Hakone Foundation, described Hakone as a treasure that was hidden away in Saratoga.

McCarthy described the amazing feeling of tranquility that greeted her when she first visited the gardens. "The flowers were in full bloom. It was amazing," she said.

Saratoga Mayor Ann Waltonsmith said that it was a great day for the city.

"We realized in 2000 that the city could not take care of Hakone any longer," said Waltonsmith. "I am happy to see that the foundation is making Hakone the world-class garden it should be."

Desiree Rollins, the regional marketing director of HGTV, and Navarra Williams, area vice president of Comcast, also spoke at the event.

"We are about American homes, but we are also about the American community," said Rollins.

Williams said that he was all for preserving the historic site. "I have not been here before, but I sure want to come back," he said.

Hillary Clinton was the first chairwoman of the Save America's Treasures program and remains a supporter. First Lady Laura Bush is the honorary chairwoman of the program now.

Jack Tomlinson, a Japanese garden specialist who has worked at Hakone for almost 30 years, likened the gardens to a time capsule. "The Hakone Gardens was built in the 1920s, but the style was from many centuries ago," he said. "The garden has remain unchanged."

Tomlinson said that the ceremony was a very emotional moment for him. He said that the gardens were in a pretty bad condition when the city of Saratoga decided to buy the property in 1966. "It was like an old, classic car which had been lying in a garage. It was restored bit by bit," he said.

Tomlinson learned his craft from Tanso Ishihara, a landscape gardener who had trained in Kyoto, Japan, and worked at restoring the garden in the 1960s and the '70s.

Saavedra thanked the patrons of the gardens for the public service they were doing. "Franklin Roosevelt once described public service as 'old men planting tress whose shadows they will never sit under.' "

"You have honored the past with a marvelous gift to the future," said Greene, thanking HGTV and Comcast for their contributions to Hakone Gardens.