Japanese Stone Structure Several Years Later

I designed and installed my first ever Japanese garden three years ago. It is looking pretty good and has held up well considering. The dogs have been using the pondless fountain basin as a toilet and the clumps of acorus and sedges as nesting places. Thank goodness they are very old and small dogs.

There have only been a few minor changes in the planting since it was installed. One 'Gold Mop' chamaecyparis was taken out because it wasn't happy in the dry spot under the eaves and the ceramic pot was switched.

This is a closer look at one end of the planting. That holly in the bottom right was looking half dead today like something was spilled on it. I cut that part off.

Overall it has been a no fuss garden with minimal upkeep. The pondless fountain is still on it's first pump. The client still loves it. That is a big plus for the garden.

So we did another one. A new entry, covered front porch and walkway was added to a back portion of the house. This cut off a former, way overgrown foundation planting creating a tiny narrow courtyard type space. The only access is by crawling under the deck and walkway. Fortunately I installed it before the railings went on the walkway.

The entire space is viewed from above. Keep it very simple was the idea. There is another 'Sky Pencil' Holly to the bottom right out of the picture. Three shrubs, a dry stream bed, gravel and a Celtic cross on a trial basis. Something else was needed and the cross was available.

Maybe with a large polished round stone? It still needs something more or something different than the cross. What it needs will show up in time.

And this, this is as close as you can get to a no maintenance garden.