hibui. Quiet beauty.
That's what Doreen Gordon of Bloom-
field Township has gradually achieved
over 22 years while converting the acre
around her house into aJapanese garden.
Why do Oriental landscapes appeal so
much to Americans who now seem to be creat-
ing more of them every year? Probably for the
same reasons that the Japanese love their peace-
able kingdoms. They find retreat and serenity
from the hustle-bustle of the everyday world.
"I didn't know much when I started," explains
Mrs. Gordon. "Coming from a traditional Eng-
lish garden background, I learned little by little
by trial and error."
For instance, she used picturesque field stones
in her initial plantings only to find this was the
wrong choice. The Japanese don't use colorful
rocks. So much has grown over them, most can't
be seen now With new beds she utilizes volcanic rod(
Another mistake was putting in bright orange
azaleas at first. Once she got the feeling of the
word shibui, "they literally offended me," says
Mrs. Gordon. She realized they were wrong and
switched to white. Pink would have been a good
choice, too. Twice when tempted by startling red
daylilies, she gave them away.
The Japanese don't use shocking bright cob
ors; they prefer something more subtle. Mrs. Gor-
don admits to cheating a little, however, during
the summer months for her American friends
who expect some flamboyance.
Mrs. Gordon was inspired to put in ajapanese
garden when she and her husband first moved
into their home 22 years ago. A neighbor had one.
She hired a landscape architect to help design it.
She assumed he knew what he was doing. "Not
true," she complains. He laid out the general
shape but when it came time to put in the plants,
he disappeared.
So she went to Goldner Walsh Nursery, Inc.,
in Pontiac, and Jim Slezinski, vice-president and
senior designer, has been helping ever since.
"At first I used to tell him what I wanted. Then
I found out how marvelous he is. Now I listen to
him."
Mrs. Gordon started with the upper garden in

back. A sliding door was put in the family room
so one can look at or step out into a tiny charm-
ing patio of distressed aggregate complete with
tiny fish pond and waterfalls. Branches of a huge
apple tree hang overhead and frame the setting
much like a painting. The fish pond is over an old
septic tank, so when the gardener wants to drain
it, she simply pulls out the plug in the bottom.
Early on this master gardener also erected a
Torii gate which she designed by looking at pic-
tures in her numerous Japanese garden books.
Then she went to a Birmingham lumber compa-
ny to have it built. On a trip to Japan she later
learned its significance — an entrance to a shrine.
She was afraid her Japanese friends might be
offended, but they weren't. "And, after all, it is
an entrance to my home which is a shrine as far
as Fm concerned," she says.
Once the back was finished, Mrs. Gordon start-
ed gradually working her way around the house,

bed by bed. She had a difficult time locating stone
lanterns. Her husband finally found some while
on a business trip to Gardens, Calif, and sent them
back on one of his company trucks. She now has
a total of five.
Another aim was enclosure of the property. A
Japanese garden is a private garden. Mrs. Gor-
don started planting pines and now has a wide va-
riety of these lovely trees.
Often on a ladder, this avid gardener does
much of the trimming and training of woody
plants in her yard. "But I don't climb trees," she
explains. "Other people do that for me."
Unusual, contorted shapes are prized in Japan-
ese gardens, though most Americans want
straight symmetrical forms. Mrs. Gordon (who
also enjoys the Japanese flower-arranging art of
ikebana) prunes for odd shapes. She might trim
away little side branches to show an interesting
curve.

STYLE • SPRING 1993.35