The Fence

"The grass is always greener on the other side."

Shortly after starting the Zen Garden in the summer of 2009 I began thinking that a fence was needed to enclose the garden. I wanted the fence to have a Japanese style and spent much of the winter months that followed reading about traditional Japanese styles of architecture and fence construction. However the most influential source came from a website (and subsequent book) I discovered by Kieran Egan entitled: Building My Zen Garden

Mr. Egan included an illustration in his website that became the model for the fence I built.

I modified the design to work with existing lumber dimensions and I opted to use rolled split-bamboo instead of cedar boards. Doing so helped keep the costs manageable and created an excellent Asian esthetic to the fence. 

Keep in mind, I know nothing about fence building, so I spent most of January to May learning what I could at the public library.

In the end, the finished fence looks great, is straight, and should last many years. During the summer of 2011 I extended the fence by three panels to the end of the gazebo area and added a Moon Window in one of the panels (see Moon Window link in the blog menu).