Reflections in the water are one of the 
Japanese gardener’s greatest delights 
This stone lantern is closely related to 
the traditional Japanese Tea Ceremony 
Every Japanese garden should have its entrance gateway 
and enclosure. The fence here is of reeds and bamboo 
Japanese Gardens 
for Winter Effect 
ONE SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM CONFRONTING ALL HOME-MAKERS—HOW TO HAVE YOUR GARDEN 
LOOK WELL THROUGHOUT THE YEAR —THE PRINCIPLES OF THE JAPANESE GARDENER’S CRAFT 
BY PHEBE WESTCOTT HUMPHREYS 
T HE garden never lacks its enthusiastic supporters throughout 
the months from early spring until the autumn frosts lay 
its beauties low—all of us can very easily become “fair-weather 
gardeners,’’ and many of us do. But most of us are satisfied to 
let it go at that and rest content during the winter months when 
the garden is in its long sleep. Of course we can have our window 
gardens indoors or our greenhouses or our house plants, but there 
is another thing that we may have to keep very much alive our 
garden interest through the months from November until March, 
and that is a Japanese garden. Of course even a Japanese garden 
will not look so well during the cold months as it does in the 
summer time, but it will look a lot better 
than the ordinary garden and a very great 
deal better than no garden at all. The 
reason is that a garden of the Japanese 
type depends very little upon flowers for 
its beauty, utilizing instead the more som¬ 
bre and mysterious beauty of evergreens, 
wooden structures and accessories of 
bronze and stone. 
One of the most attractive country 
places at Olney, Pa., is that of Mr. Louis 
Burk, and among its many noteworthy 
features is a Japanese garden situated 
just back of the old stone homestead. 
This it is that serves to furnish through¬ 
out the long winter months the charm of 
growing things out-of-doors. 
On approaching the house through a 
long avenue of trees—still further beau¬ 
tified in outline by great clumps of orna¬ 
mental plume grasses—one must pass up 
to the house and directly around it before 
there appears an enticing view, seemingly 
transplanted as a whole from some famous 
Tokio or Aomori garden of old Japan. The 
entire garden is enclosed by typical Japa¬ 
nese fencing of reeds and bamboo and a 
characteristic gateway of picturesque design is guarded by 
bronze warriors. Through the gate and above the fence one 
catches glimpses of a bamboo tea room; with a hill in the 
distance ornamented with rocks and mountain paths, stunted 
pines, flowering azaleas and the inevitable stone lanterns. Once 
within the garden, there are attractions on every hand; for one 
can study here varied types of Japanese gardening, though the 
whole is blended in perfect accord. A long rambling bamboo 
palm house outlines the southern border of the garden, along 
which the principal stream winds its rock-bound course, crossed 
by quaint rustic bridges, flanked by dwarfed Oriental growing 
things, and by attractive stone lanterns, 
while the walk which follows the course 
of the stream shows the irregularly laid 
stepping stones without which no Japanese 
garden is complete. 
At the further end of the long garden 
there rises the miniature mountain which 
gives another distinct feature to the land¬ 
scape; and one can get a fairly good idea, 
on entering the massive gateway, of the 
“tea garden type” on the left, the “flat 
style” on the right, and the “hill garden 
type” in the distance. While Mr. Burk 
and his family take an intense interest 
in this charming bit of Oriental gar¬ 
dening, they have been content to leave 
the construction of its intricate details 
to an experienced Japanese landscape 
gardener, who thoroughly understands 
the mysterious and symbolistic and relig¬ 
ious significance of the numerous acces¬ 
sories. And it is only after studying the 
work of one of these landscape artists 
throughout the process of garden con¬ 
struction from day to day, and learning 
the why and wherefore in the placing of 
ornamental features, that one can realize 
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