When I bought the house there was an overgrown part of the yard that I could not figure out how to landscape. There were very large yew bushes covering a sizable area. They had obviously been pruned on occasion, but not recently and all the lower branches had died. The lower branches were about 10 feet long. The entire area looked a mess.
With all my projects, I contemplate them for a while before I tackle them. After viewing the unsightly bushes from every angle, my decision was to remove all the old yew bushes and turn it back to lawn. It seemed like a good decision at the time.
I bought a small electric chain saw and started hacking away. It was necessary to prune just to get to the base of the yew bushes. There were so many dead branches. It took me an inordinate amount of time just to trim the first one. Something told me not to cut it down. I trimmed the next one and began to discover what had been at one time a rock garden.
It was an exciting discovery. The Harcourt’s, the original owners had built a rock garden, with a small stream that came down the hill. There was a concrete channel with large boulders strategically placed. I know the Harcourt’s designed the garden, because at the top most point is a Japanese Umbrella Pine.
Japanese Umbrella Pine trees are common in Japan, less common in the United States. The trees have lush thick needles of a rich dark green color. The reason why the trees are not common in the United States is they take so long to grow. Aerage growth rate is only 1-3″ per year! This Umbrella Pine is 25-30 feet tall.
The concrete was broken in a lot of places. Water features are nice, but they are difficult to maintain and time consuming. What to do?
Winter was coming on, so I stopped work on the rock garden. Instead, I turned to researching and dreaming during the long winter months. I bought books about Japanese gardens. I scoured websites. I toured the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens in the winter – they have a lovely Japanese garden. I drove Andrew crazy by constantly bringing up the garden. The Spring thaw came around and I had a plan. I would make an Oriental garden. Why not make a Japanese garden, you might ask? Two reasons. 1. I had a rock garden – it wasn’t really Japanese at all. 2. Andrew is from Burma and not Japan. I wanted to incorporate something from Burma into the garden.
Dry streams are common in Japanese gardens. I filled the area where the water had previously flowed (using a little license because the broken concrete no longer made sense). Using the huge boulders as a guide, I used smaller stones (taken from digging the pool fence posts and the holes for the evergreen trees) to line my stream.
At first I thought I would plant moss. I scrapped it carefully from throughout the property. This wasn’t so successful. In the Summer months the moss dried up. Critters – birds – deer – groundhogs kept moving it. Moss does not have roots and is therefore easily moved.
Through Craigslist I found a woman who wanted to get rid of her stonecrop (sedum). I brought home boxes and buckets of stonecrop and have been nursing it along throughout the summer. Because of the slope the area is well drained and dry in the summer. The most amazing thing is that after uncovering the area of the dead yew branches, the ferns sprang to life. A big, beautiful drift of ferns.
What makes this an Oriental garden? I designed a gate – after a country Japanese style. Andrew and I used a wood burning tool to inscribe a saying over the gate. It is in Burmese. It roughly translates to: “Warmest welcome. may you have a blissful time.”
We found lanterns at a local antique shop. I installed a low stone wall and put more stones down for the steps. The garden is not finished, but it has made a lot of progress in the past 12 months. Next year more plants will be added to the garden and maybe even a small pavilion.
Gardens give pleasure in many different ways. They give the owner a sense of accomplishment, a sense of pride of ownership, the pleasure of working in them and a connection to nature. They give the visitor the ability to see, touch, smell, hear and sometimes taste the labors and bounties of the garden. The gate is the first landmark someone sees upon entering the yard. I hope it will always have the Burmese meaning – Warmest welcome, may you have a blissful time – every time someone comes to visit. Please come visit, now you know you are welcome.