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Papa Bear and Regenmeneer:
Very nice ponds, what a great start... In the 40+ years that I've been tending to our Japanese Gardens, which encompass our entire lot, I've found that you have to fine tune the garden until you get it right. Maybe add some trees and shrubs while removing others...You have to remember that the gardens of Japan are hundreds of years old... After all these years, I still find that I tweak the gardens as my taste changes and new plant materials become available...
As your gardens mature, natural plants will fill the gaps between the stone work making it more natural as the years pass... Depending on the weather and environment in your areas, hopefully lichen and mosses will start growing on and between the rockwork and temper the "new" look...
Papa Bear: If Japanese Maples will grow in your area, a red one would really make your pond "Pop" and break the flatness around it, IMHO a great combination would be a red maple set off by 3 dog woods... Maybe a few mounds beneath them.
Rengenmeneer: as to the Toros (lanterns) and pagoda, they look very natural to me because they are part and parcel of a Japanese Garden... I've been a student of Japanese Gardens for 40+ years, traveled to Japan for 8 and lived there for two... Except for the newness of the garden, yours is like many of the gardens I visited during my stays in Japan. While most of the gardens look similar, if you study them closely you'll see that many of them have their own personality which was passed down by the gardener who created them... In your case you like color, in mine I try to stay with basic greens framing the koi which add the "color"... There is nothing wrong with either of our designs, it's just a personal preference...
As your gardens "Age" they will bring you years of enjoyment and pleasure...
Aloha! Mike
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11-02-2005
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