When one of the tree peonies bloomed this past spring, in the oriental garden, it spurred me on to continue development of this part of the garden. The blossom proved the viability of the area for the plants I hoped to grow.
The oriental garden has taken longer to develop than other areas of our grounds. It has been a multi-year process. In earlier blogs, I featured how clearing decades of overgrowth revealed the stream put in by the original owners. Cutting down invasive Norway maples allowed us to protect and encourage a beleaguered, but still beautiful, Japanese Umbrella Pine. We built an entrance gate. Last year, we embarked on the planting of tree peonies, Itoh peonies and iris.
We built the entrance gate in the summer of 2019.
This year the task was to unify the dry stream with the newly planted iris and peonies. My vision was to have a path winding through the garden. Throughout the woodland garden, the paths are outlined with large logs. In the oriental garden, I wanted to have stone lining the paths. My source for inexpensive stone was exhausted last year, when I built the entrance gate to our driveway. The guy I had been purchasing from purposefully depleted his stockpile and was not interested in getting more. Buying rocks can be expensive.
Uncertain about what source I might use for rocks, I delayed working on the garden throughout the summer. I planted, but I only had an idea about the paths. One late summer day, in the woodland garden, while I was transplanting a lilac bush, I put my shovel in the ground and hit a rock. It was like a revelation. I transplanted the bush elsewhere and started to dig rocks. One rock led to another and within days I had enough rocks to complete my path. Andrew and I have discussions about things happening for a reason. In our case this definitely seems to be divine providence.
The oriental garden is on a slope. One area is steeper than the rest, making a natural spot for a set of steps. The steps are planted on either side with iris and peonies, providing a nice future vantage point above the blooming plants.
As I progressed with steps down the hill, I encountered large roots from the Norway maples. I had to chop and dig these out to continue working on the path. The massive root in this photo took hours to cut and remove.
Moving the stones was not an easy task. Andrew and I hooked up the cart to the riding lawn mower, with the intent of moving the stones from the woodland garden to the oriental garden. However, we discovered we could not fit the lawn mower into the area where the stones were located. We disconnected the cart and pulled it by hand into the garden. With a lot of effort, we got our heaviest stones into the cart and then pulled it to the lawn mower. It is quite a distance from the woodland garden to the oriental garden, so the lawn mower was indispensable. I also moved many rocks using a wheelbarrow.
Slowly the steps took shape and then finally the path. I will cover the path with wood chips. Unfortunately, one of the large maples in the yard has died. It will be cut down in late winter, while the ground is still frozen, and converted to wood chips. Nothing from the garden is ever hauled away, everything is recycled in the yard. Come spring, I will plant the landings between the steps with wooly thyme.
While this might have been a chore for some people, to me it was fun to go out each day and play with my rocks. Some of them are extremely heavy and I had a difficult time moving them into place. I only had Andrew’s assistance on two occasions, moving some of the heaviest stones, so I had to move everything into place on my own. Who needs a gym when you are building an oriental garden?
The Historic Iris Preservation Society has an annual sale. I purchased many historic iris this past summer. They all seem to be doing well in their new home. It will take a couple of years for them to bloom, but they should be unique and lovely blossoms.
Originally, I thought I might title this article, Between a Rock and a Hard Place. When I thought back, it wasn’t a hard place at all. I didn’t spend any money on the hardscape, I just dug everything out of the ground. The cost of the plants was minimal, and I had friends who gave me some iris. It is an organic garden in the truest sense.
Paul, you are so ambitious! Can’t wait to see the oriental garden in person.
Thank you, Gayle. I look forward to showing it to you. It doesn’t seem like being ambitious when it is fun.
So nice when all of your hard work, and hard work indeed, starts to show promise. It’s fun to see your vision come to fruition. Half the fun is the journey itself. Look forward to seeing how the oriental garden evolves.
Thank you, Elaine. Yes, it is nice to see a vision come to fruition. With this area, I have been through about a dozen mental iterations about how to landscape it. Like all gardens it evolves.
I’m so impressed! What a labor of love 😉 And how special that the rocks in your Oriental Garden are from your property! They were just waiting to be “daylighted” for a greater purpose!
Thank you, Colleen. Several times I have thought about things I need for the garden, and somehow, they magically come to me. This has happened with plants that friends have given me. Andrew is a big help, he keeps me sane and is always supportive – no matter how crazy my ideas seem.