Garden of Dancing Maples
We were invited to this place in order to give it a Japanese feel. The garden was made long before us. Very beautiful, well designed. However, over the years, the trees and shrubs have grown greatly, hiding all the beauty, and a large number of perennials created excessive diversity in the garden.
The owners of the garden turned to the famous bonsai specialist Andrei Darusenkov, who formed a large pine tree and many of ginnala maples that form the basis of the garden. He left the most graceful trunks and significantly thinned out the crown. As a result, translucent maples with curved trunks made the first serious Japanese touch of the garden. That’s why we wanted to call the garden “Garden of Dancing Maples.”
A start has been made. But it was still far from the Japanese mood. The first thing we did we changed the design of the pond. Instead of light pebbles and round boulders, we decorated it by rougher gray stones.
Some of the plants had to be removed and the junipers trimmed to open up a view of the wonderful waterfall. Almost all perennials were removed from the pond area, leaving only evergreen cotoneaster bushes on the shore. Instead of the willow, that looked too large for this part of the garden, we planted blueberries, formed it the same way as ginnala maples. The same blueberry bushes were planted a little further away, they also wil be forming in the future.
We decided to remove the diseased junipers, which did not winter well and were blocking the retaining wall in the background. Instead, we built Turtle Island on the left, and the stone composition to the right of the waterfall represents the Crane.
Polished stones were laid out in different places in the garden. I usually don’t use such stones, as I think they are not particularly suitable for a Japanese garden. But this time the customers asked to keep them. So we decided to collect them in one place and to use as the head, paws and tail of the Turtle. The head with a slight turn towards the pond turned out to be especially impressive. We added stones to the island, planted a small pine tree that we will shape, and covered the ground with gray pebbles and thyme.
On the opposite side we placed the Crane stones, and filled the space with pebbles. Since there was not much space, and we did not want to block the retaining wall, stones for the Crane are not big, so we can only slightly guess this symbol.
A little further away, standard maples were planted, which not only did not fit into the overall style of the garden, but were also constantly sick. Under these maples, at the turn, there was a bench and a row of thujas behind.
It was decided to remove the maples, and the thujas were moved to the retaining wall, to the fence. As a result, free space appeared, the garden became lighter and deeper.
Before
After
On the retaining wall there were before a lot of plants, and they all really felt cramped here. Here we decided to completely change the concept. We created two islands, installed stones, and filled the area around with small gravel. We placed Japanese rhododendrons on the islands, and, as I already said, we moved the thujas to the fence, adding a few more to them.
Before
After
Also in this garden we thought there was too much of a plant with dark red foliage, mostly decorative apple trees. They made the space heavier, creating a dark background. We removed them, and raised the crown of the huge linden tree growing nearby.
Before
After
Before
After
And two blue spruce trees had to be removed from the house, since they not only oppressed other plants, but also shaded the house, since they grew very close.
After
The front part of the garden has also undergone changes. There were many diverse plants collected here, what made a feeling of diversity and congestion.
We transplanted the plants to other places, collecting them in groups. Here we added three blueberry bushes, which in their shape will echo the ginnal maples, and placed same stones. Maples were also formed by Andrey. Of the perennials, we chose thyme, as it most closely resembles moss and successfully replaces it in sunny areas of the garden. In areas near the plants bark was placed so that one could step on it while caring for garden or for picking berries. Pine trees on the opposite side also will be forming.
Before
After
Well, here are a few more photos of this garden.
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