[To my other friends: Kawamotosan lives in Kyoto and
has one of the most
beautiful gardens in Japan. He is a very generous man:
He showed me his
garden; he gave me books on Japanese gardens; he sent
me plants; he
sends me pictures of his garden in all seasons! Best of
all, he helped me get a
rain chain when my visit to Kyoto ended. He has
inspired me to work on my
garden. I have prepared this tour so he can enjoy my
garden as it looks today.
I hope you enjoy the tour, too.]
North Side
Click on the picture to find these features.
1. Katsura
2. Back Steps
3. Bird Bath
4. Stone Path
5. Zig-Zag Wall
6. Head Wall
7. Stepping Stones
8. Pond
9. Water Fall
10. Lower Prichard Wall
11. Cobble Stone Path
12. Hot Tub
South Side
Click on the picture to find these features
12. Hot Tub
13. Upper Prichard Wall
14. Prichard Formation Path
15. Cedar Steps
16. Snow Bell (Styrax japonica)
17. Japanese Red Maple (Acer palmatum)
18. Black Bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra)
Looking to the north from my kitchen door ...
See the Katsura (Cercidiphyllum japonica) and the birdbath. Also É
The plants to the left of the birdbath are Siberian iris (Iris
siberica)
The tree to the right of the birdbath is a Japanese Black Pine (Pinus
thumbergeii)
My blue stone patio still has "X" joints.
I built my new fence from a picture of a house in northwest Kyoto.
I like it very much. See it in the sunshine:
See the Pond and Cobble Stone path.
This picture shows the route to the northeast corner of the garden
É take the cobble stone path,
cross the water fall, walk along the stone path and go up the back
steps.
I have no grass. I planted groundcover plants, but they are small.
Someday they will cover all of the
ground, as you see in the next picture.
See part of the Pond and the Lower Prichard Wall. Also ...
The large rock weighs 180 kg. I asked a friend to help me move it
to the garden because machines
cannot be used here.
The rocks used for the pond are smaller. I moved them to the garden
myself.
See the Zig Zag Wall and the Lower Prichard Wall. Also É
The large leaf shrubs are rhododendrons. The smaller one has
beautiful pink flowers in Spring. The two
large rhododendrons have ugly purple flowers. I use these plants
for shade. I can grow ferns and moss
under the rhododendrons.
See the Cobble Stone Path and the Stone Path.
There is no bridge, so a visitor must step across the waterfall.
The step is not long (50 cm).
There is a pump in the pond. The water flows in a pipe behind the
rocks to a filter. The filter is hidden by
rocks. The water flows very fast into a pool. It pours out of the
pool and over the waterfall.
The two plants are black mondo grass (Ophiopogon planiscapus
nigrescens).
See the Stone Path and the edge of the Zig Zag Wall. Also É
At the end of the Stone Path is a stepping stone up to a large rock
that is broken.
We call this the Viewing Rock, because it is a good place to view
the garden.
The stream to the waterfall is visible.
The two evergreen trees to the right are Hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis
obtusa).
And look to the south as you walk
See the Head Wall and the Stepping Stones.
I built the Head Wall from Pennsylvania Blue Stone like the patio.
A brick wall is hidden behind the Head
Wall to keep the soil in place.
The pine tree is a called Taniyosho, (Pinus densiflora
umbraculifera).
And on the path,
look west as you walk
See the Pond and the Zig Zag Wall. Also É
I do not like the Zig Zag wall, but I need it to hold the soil in
place.
We painted it to match the color of the famous back wall of the Zen
garden at the Ryoan-ji Temple.
The brown needles on the ground are from the cedar tree (Cedrus
deodara) on the right.
See the Cedrus deodara on the right and the chimney of my house on the left.
From the hot tub we can see over our house to Puget Sound and the
Olympic Mountains.
The hot tub is a good place to watch the sunset in the evening. I
can see ships in Puget Sound.
(I took this picture to reflect the tree, so the water of Puget
Sound is hard to see.)
See the edge of the Hot Tub deck and the Japanese Red Maple. Also
...
The walk is the Prichard Path.
I call this stone "Prichard" because it comes from
Montana; its geological name is Prichard Formation.
It is beautiful stone because it has iron in it and looks rusty
orange.
Look east at the steps down from the hot tub.
The pine at right is a dwarf Eastern white pine (Pinus strobus nana), native to the United States. The rock
around the pine is also Prichard stone. I gathered it near my brother-in-law's house in Libby, Montana.
See the Upper Prichard Wall. Also, É
This wall keeps the soil in front of the hot tub in place. I also gathered this stone from Libby Montana.
This wall continues the stone construction from the other side of the path.
The bamboo plant (Fargesia nitida) hides the electrical pole for the hot
tub.
See the birdbath and the pond. Also É
This is the hillside above the 180 kg rock seen in an earlier
picture.
The ground cover plants are short (8 cm).
These red flowers are impatiens (Balsaminaceae, New Guinea hybrid)
next to the last step in the garden circuit.
That's the whole
tour! I hope you enjoyed it!
Walk over to the
fence ...
I installed
my rain chain by the glass door
near my kitchen table, where I like to sit
and look at the
garden. The garden is designed to
be viewed from this place.
No rain has
fallen since I installed my rain chain, so it is still bright copper.
(The drain is not
yet finished.)
Your rain chain
is now 3 years old. It must be a beautiful green.
Thank you for
helping me find the rain chain!
I hope you can
visit one day. We can tour the garden together.