Today we’re visiting a part of Dale Dailey’s garden.
In 2010, I decided to transform a quiet area in our large garden into a more contemplative space. In the spring, I would hang strings of Tibetan prayer flags between two large red pine trees. To add to the effect, I was able to purchase a Japanese stone lantern locally and added a bamboo water fountain nearby. The gentle sound of falling water added to the contemplative feeling, and the completed garden was quite pleasing.
But in 2013 one of the pine trees died, and I decided to create an even more authentic Japanese-style garden in the area. We had recently seen a beautiful Japanese garden in Portland, Oregon, and
I did my research. A fundamental concept of Japanese gardens is to create a gravel area that simulates a quiet body of water and add large rocks that represent islands. The gravel is then raked to simulate rolling waves.
My first step was to clear the mass of lilies-of-the-valley and other vegetation from the area. I left the Japanese maple (Acer palmatum, Zones 5–9) and a dwarf conifer in place. When this was completed, I added a few large stones to represent rocky islands and installed a block edging across the front. The final step was to haul in 4 inches of pea gravel and rake around the islands to represent waves. A standing Buddha statue added to the overall effect. The garden now seemed complete, and we enjoyed sitting nearby.
We’ve visited this beautiful garden before (Dale’s Garden in 2020), if you want to see more.
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