Four-Eyed Fence

Over the last couple of days I decided to build and install a Yotsume-gaki, or Four Eyed Fence. 

Supposedly this is an easy style of fence to build, but I found that it involved many of the same steps as a more complicated fence. 

First, I needed bamboo. No problem, becuase I have lots left over from earlier projects. I had long pieces and shorter pieces. However, I didn't want the fence to exceed 2 feet in height, so I had to trim some of the smaller pieces.

To do the trimming, I purchased a saw designed specifically for bamboo that would give a clean cut without fraying the ends. 

The KAKURI Bamboo Cutting Japanese Hand Saw I bought worked great, like cutting butter.

I also purchased some black Bonsai twine to tie the vertical piece to the rails. 

Not being confident in my ability to master the Otoko musu, a knot style that is meant to be strong and appealing to see, I decided to use small almond color outdoor deck screws to hold the fence together and then cover them over with my Otoko musu. You have to look real close to see the screws. I thought this was cheating until I read that in Japan they often use a thin copper wire first, then the Otoko musu, so I don't feel so bad about doing it my own way. Besides, I already had a box of these screws, so no extra costs.

 

Finally, my design was different than most becuase I wanted a temporary fence that could be moved at any time. Occasionally I have to get a wheelbarrow into the stroll garden area for cleanup and other projects. Additionally, I need the viewing garden area in the winter in order to have a place to blow snow from the driveway. As a result, I designed the fence in three parts. 

The Middle Panel

The left and right panels have posts with feet at each end. Each has an inner post that is drilled all the way through to accept the third middle panel. I can take it all apart in seconds and easily open the fence and or move the pieces. My plan is in the winter to store the pieces neatly in the garage until spring returns. This will also help make the fence last longer since it wont be exposed to extreme winter weather. 

I also had plenty of left over cedar from other projects to make the feet, which I then routed along the top edge. 

However, I did have to buy two 4 foot dowels made of poplar. I couldn't find reasonably priced cedar dowels in the diameter I wanted. I was worried about the poplar's ability to hold a stain, but in the end they were cheap and the stain worked fine.

In all, it took two full days to make the fence. The panels look somewhat authentic.

It also makes the viewing area more noticeable as a feature along the driveway. As people walk by, their eyes are now drawn to the area and inspired to look and explore, exactly what a Zen viewing garden is meant for. Although people are not supposed to enter, they can still make their way into the area along the stepping stone path on the right, as long as they stay on the stones.

It even looks good from the other side of the neighbor's fence. 

 

Please, try to imagine this entire area being fenced off with a fence similar to the Zen garden fence. It will have to wait until next year, but once I get around to putting it in, the entire area will be transformed.

In the meantime, I am very happy with the Yotsume-gaki.

Follow the Signs

For several years, after completing the Woodland Gate along the Dragon's Spine, I have put off making and installing a sign. Several false starts to make my own sign exposed my inability to master the craftsmanship necessary to carve my own sign in Chinese characters. So, I decided to search for someone who could complete the task in a manner consistent with quality, and within a price range that I could afford.

There were no local sign makers who fulfilled either criteria, so I ventured online and eventually I decided on Etsy as my best bet. In a very short time I came across a link for Green Apple Goods, an Etsy site owned and operated by Erik Minkin. 

I noticed that Erik had a variety of signs, including ones made of Chinese characters. I contacted Erik and he assured me that he could easily make the sign for the Woodland Gate. It was easy, I simply sent Erik a digital copy of the characters I wanted, and he took care of the rest. 

Woodland Gate

Once I saw the mockup of the signs, I decided that I would have him make signs for my other gates as well, the East Gate in the Stroll Garden and the Middle Gate in the main entrance between the house and garage.  

Middle Gate

East Gate

I have long referred to these gates in this manner, but they only had signs indicating the name of the garden, Songni Yuan. I thought it was time to formally designate each gate, and these signs would prove to be a great way to do so.

Erik uses pine wood from New Zealand and the wood is finished with a Danish Oil (Natural hue). As a result, his signs have a nice dark brown tone and the letters standout in a much lighter color, similar to my bamboo and stained cedar fence. I thought having the sings in this color combination would add some contrast and a bit more interest to the garden gates.

Woodland Gate

 

The finished products were wonderful. I am so happy with the way they turned out. Erik did a great job with the characters, which would have been impossible for me to do with basic tools and no skill. They look fantastic. 

Middle Gate

 

East Gate

 

Becuase they are going to stay outside from spring to fall, I thought that it was important to finish them with a protective varnish. Erik recommended that I use a marine spar varnish, which I did. It can be a bit shinny, but it will ensure that these signs last a long time.

I moved the original Songni Yuan sign from the East Gate back to the sukashigaki (see through fence) entry way to the garden near the gazebo. 

It needed a home, and this entryway does not have a gate, but is one of three entrances to the main garden, so it seemed like a good location.

I'm really fortunate to have discovered Erik and Green Apple Goods. If you are looking for someone to make similar signs using Chinese of Japanese characters, Erik is definitely someone who you should contact.

I am so glad that I did. I will now admire my new signs daily as I enter and exit Songni Yuan.

Reel Change

I thought it was time to post some updated pictures of the walkway between the house and the garage. It has changed dramatically over the years as plants have matured and filled in the area.

August, 2015

July, 2020

The shrubs and bamboo plants have all filled in nicely and do a good job of helping to hide the foundations.

The Japanese Forest Grass at the base of the "Lantern" (electric meter box) have all grown substantially over the years and help to hide the rock base.

Additionally, I added a new water reel in this location (and another on the other side of the house as well). 

This reel is very efficient - it spins in either direction and also rotates 360°. By attaching it to a post I also do not have to bend over all the time to reel the hose. 

In the winter I will be able to detach the reel very easily and store it in he garage. Most importantly, it looks nice in this location, rather than having a hose reel on wheels which always looked too industrial.

Rock of Ages

In my attempt to improve the dry-landscape garden (or viewing garden) along side the driveway, I purchased a large rock to place within the pea stone.

This is the stone I came across at the local stone/hardscape supply store. It only cost $35, but I thought it was worth it because it had so much character.

Unfortunately, it cost $75 to have it delivered. Its moments like this that I miss my pickup truck I sold back in 2013.

Once delivered, I still had to move the rock and rotate it into place. I also had to find a way to lift it upwards. A large hole was dug and a 2 x 4 and shovel were used to shift it around, but eventually I had to get help from my wife to move it. It was extremely heavy.

After 3 hours of messing around, I finally had it in place. About 10% is buried, so it is actually bigger than it appears. Once in, I reworked the pea stone and cleaned up.

Before

After

The stone has a lot of character, especially on the side I chose as the face. It also looks good from a distance and the driveway.

It looks great, but that is it for stones. I don't want to fill in this area with too much. I am also reconsidering the location of any future Tortoise Island I was considering in the previous post, perhaps in he planting bed instead of the pea stone. I have to think on it some more.

Kame Jima - The Tortoise Island

As a result of moving some rocks around when installing the stroll garden stepping stones and fountain grass, I ended up with several unused rocks. One was very large and heavy. 

I hadn't noticed at first, but when I went to move them into storage, I realized that it looked like a tortoise shell in shape, especially when I saw it next two to smaller stones, one which looked remarkably like a head piece and the other a tail.

 

I knew that many Zen gardens have stone placements that are meant to represent islands, and that often one of the islands was referred to as a tortoise island, or kame-jima (亀島). The idea originated with the cult of immortality, a Daoist inspired belief from China in which the tortoise is a symbol of longevity representing 10,000 years. 

I already had a small little stone tortoise elsewhere in the garden.

However, I could now consider creating a moss island with these stones as a metaphor, rather than an actual turtle statue. Seeing the tortoise should be an experience of discovery and contemplation. You either see it or you don't, it all depends on your level of consciousness. 

Again, I was familiar with this aspect of Zen gardens and have seen it employed in several gardens:

Ryōan-ji  - Kyoto, Japan

Isshidan (Rtogen-in) - Kyoto, Japan

kinkakuji - Kyoto, Japan

 Ninomaru Teien (Nijō-jō) - Kyoto, Japan

 Tenshin'en - Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Gibbs Garden - Atlanta, Georgia

So, over the next few weeks I will consider what to do. Now that the stroll garden is complete, I have  begun to seriously consider the front half of the garden area alongside the driveway. 

I am ready to start seriously reworking that area to make it a dry-landscape garden, the type of garden most people in the west associate with a Zen garden.

It will take some time. I have to fence it off from the neighbor's yard and his hideous white rail plastic fence. That will have to wait until next spring due to time and monetary constraints. However, the Kame-jima idea has potential, and I already have some wonderful stones, so the planning can start now.

Boxed In

After fixing the foundation corner in the front of the garage, I have now moved to the back to solve a similar problem. 

This back corner also displays too much cinder block. The two ground cover sedums that are located there always look great when they flower, but they never grow in height. They also look a bit strange latter in the summer when the stems droop and expose the open core of each plant. So, to solve the height problem, I am replacing them with a Golden Japanese Spikenard (Aralia cordata 'Sun King"). 

This plant likes part sun and shade, so it will do fine here. It also likes well drained soil, which is great given that this is an enclosed box with soil on top and a lot of drainage gravel below. I will probably have to put some more soil in and less rocks, but it will drain well.

The plant can grow to 6 feet, but I suspect that the box will limit it root growth over time and as a result help to keep the height down. It should grow enough to cover the cinder block corner and may droop down a bit into the lower elevation on the right side in which the Pompom Cyprus and other plants now reside. I may have to trim it back from time to time.

Once in it looks a bit odd all by itself in such a big box.

 

In time, it should fill in the area and grow higher.

I really like the light color of the leaves and think it will add some differentiation with all the other greens in the garden. I hope the berries it produces won't be a messy issue, but it may attract birds.

I think it's an experiment worth trying. Anything to hide that foundation.

I moved the Sedums to two locations across from each other just on the other side of the see-through fence and the bamboo.

 

Not sure how these will work out in these locations, but I essentially had no where else to put them. The garden and yard are practically full of plants.