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                                                   A CHINESE GARDEN IN DENMARK (?)

Page initiated:  2021-12-21

Page finished:   2021-12-22

Is our private garden here in Denmark a Chinese garden?

The answer is NO, but there are several elements in the garden that are inspired from China - or the Far East.

There is water - two lakes, - a small stream, - there are "mountains", - a "dragon" - and not at least a "moon gate" like the one on the photo above - and we avoid too many straight lines - -

Besides that there are several trees and bushes that originally came from the Far East, - Forsythia, Bamboo, Magnolia and Cherry trees and Japanese and Korean  pine trees.

The stumps of old, fallen trees we keep to rot away in order for insect to hide in the cracks - and serve as food for the birds - - -  And of course we also find it important to have flowers, so that bees and butterflies are attracted - - -

Instead I would describe our garden as a biodiverse garden, - with the purpose of attracting animals, birds and insects, - in other words: Life - and this purpose is fully met.  It's a great joy to sit by a lake and watch the dragonflies swarm over our lake in the garden  - - -

And our lakes and little stream gives the animals opportunity to drink water - and in the case of birds - to take a bath - - - And to sit and watch the frogs is a truly rewarding sight - - -

Along the garden is not only a hedge to the outside World, but a belt behind the hedge - 2 to 4 meters wide - densely overgrown with trees, bushes and flowers.  And not to forget:  Lots of bamboo - - -

Other spots in the garden are likewise dedicated to biodiversity, - and overgrown - so that a frog, a snail, a snake, a hedgehog, a partridge or a pheasant - or whatever -will have a chance to navigate the garden from one end to ther without exposing themselves to birds of prey - or predators - - -

I will use this opportunity to strongly advice people to make their garden biodiverse instead of simple, boring and sterile.  The animals would love it - and so would YOU!

And inbetween - in our garden -  comes these Far Eastern inspired features, - but mainly it is a bio diverse garden, - with certain Far Eastern elements inbetween - - -

Here is the Moon Gate from the opposit side - - -

It has been there since the house was built in the seventies, when I -designed the house - and  stretched a wall out from the house and designed this "moon gate" in the middle of it!

That caused some problems for the brick layers, because they had never seen abything like that!

They solved the problem by cutting two big circles out from plywood, and made a round structure to built the moon gate around - - -

And the miracle happened!  When remowing the support structure, the moon gate remained standing- and it still stands to this day - about 45 years later - - -

Just an extra remark:  I had planned to place 2 Tang dynasty lions - copies -  on each side of the gate, - but I changed my mind and put the lions inside, because what would happen if we got a strong winter, and they were NOT made to resist freezing temperatures????

So inside they went - and instead I placed two big flower pots at the lion's place - - -

I have never seen another moon gate here in Denmark, so this one might be the only one???????

Since dragons can both fly and swim, - I decided to place him in a shallow watered pool, so that he would reflect in the water - - -

And with the green bamboo "wall" behind him - he is happy - feeling home - - -

On the photo you also see one of our "mountains" - the "Yellow Mountains" - partly overgrown - to the right in the photo -

The "Lotus Lake" - another element to have included in a Chinese garden - a lake.

But this lake is NOT Chinese, but our own garden lake here in Denmark - - -

And it is NOT lotus plants you see in the lake, - but quite ordinary local water lilies that we refer to as lotus'es - - - 

We did once experiment with real lotus plants, - and in the summer it goes well, - but they will not survive winter - - -

Although water is a permanent ingredience in a Chinese garden, I am no sure that goes for frogs as well - -

But certainly a Chinese garden lake will have fish, - and that goes for our garden lake as well, - but again - where the Chinese like carps, - we just do it with Chinese goldfish and Japanese chubunkin - and mixes of those two because they mate together - - -

Here you see another element of Chinese gardens - mountains -. but here in our garden, the "mountain" is only a pile of rocks, - but from that pile of rocks comes the Lotus Stream, that feeds the Lotus lake - - -

That concludes pictures from my Chinese inspired garden here in Denmark - with lakes, - fish, - a stream, - a dragon, - a moon gate,  "mountains" - and lots of bamboo - -

But does that make it a Chinese Garden????

I would say NO, - but there are elements that are inspired by Chinese gardens - - -  and I love it!

Judge for yourself - - - :-) :-) :-)