A wooden post provides support for an aging willow in the Japanese Garden. (Photo by Aurora Santiago)
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In the latest entry in the Arboretum Bulletin’s “Elements of Design” series, Corinne Kennedy address the concept of time in the garden setting. Using the Seattle Japanese Garden as an example, Corinne talks about how plantings evolve over years and decades—and how we can work to maintain the original design intent.
Designed to “celebrate the fleeting nature of beauty and the changes that take place both seasonally and over many years,” the Japanese Garden uses a variety of strategies to address the complexities of time—including proper spacing of plants, judicious pruning, supporting aging trees, and replacing plants that grow out of proportion to their surroundings. These strategies work well for gardens of any size.
