Renovated Japanese Garden in Buffalo


Yesterday I had a glorious experience at the dedication of the Japanese
Garden at Delaware Park.  There are about60 JI's planted there (and a touch of
purple loosestrife because they knew Bob Turley would eventually hear about 
this -- they've tried to cut it down, but ---) and a lot of Stella D'Oro
daylilies.  No peonies, at least not at this point -- wrong time of year to
plant them and maybe that was recognized.  
This garden decends the hill from the Historical Society building to the edge
of the lake.  It surrounds a path of stone steps that are set in a truely
Japanese style -- and by workers funded by the sister city of Kenazawa who are
Japanese garden masters based in Canada.  The stones are placed as naturally
as people could do it in a gentle curve, with the rise just high engough to
walk it with ease, with stopping off places to either sit or just look and
think about the lake (never mind the ugly super highway which cuts through
the park on the other side of the lake - takes a great deal of contemplation
to never mind that!) and to think about where one's life's path is taking one.
There were two bus loads of Japanese visitors, and some Buffalo dignitaries
and a few dirt gardeners.  A dramatic point was when the Mayor of the City
of Buffalo came striding down the path unaccompanied by his advance men
into the area of the park -- this man is not going to be mayor all his life!!

Here's what the Japan Information Center Consulate General of Japan's newsletter
said:
The city of Buffalo, New York is home to the first park system in America, 
originally designed by America's premier landscape architect, Fredrick Law
Olmsted in 1870, whose other works include New York's Central Park, Boston's
Emerald Neclace parks, Yosemite National Park, San Francisco's Parks System
and the Niagara Reservation.
	Located in historic Delaware Park , the focal point of the 1901 Pan 
American Expositon, is the newly renovated Japanese Garden.  Completed in
1974, the japanese Garden embodied the friendship between two sister
cities, Buffalo, New York and Kanazawa, Japan. Located on six acres along
Delaware Park's Mirror Lake, it originally bagan with 1,000 plantings, nearly
20 globe-type lights and three small islands connected to the mainland by
bridges.
	As part of its "Adopt-A-Park program, the City of Buffalo, in partner-
ship with the Japanese Group of Buffalo, the Buffalo-Kanazawa Sister City Committee and the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, has substantially renovated and
enhanced the Japanese Garden, introducing the Japanese Rock Garden and a new
Karesansui waterfall, adding new stone benches, and replanting a major strand
of Japanese cherry trees, as well as undertaking substantial plantings of
other trees and shrubs.
	Cooperatively designed with Japanes garden experts from Kanazawa,
Japan, many individuals and groups supported the Japanese Garden Restoration
Project. Its members' dedication, generosity and hard work have made
the Garden an attraction that all can be proud of, and many can enjoy and
appreciate over time.

***

The best part is that I drive past this every day on my way to Buffalo State
College! It was a great day for the City of Buffalo !

Carolyn Schaffner - 2 minutes from the Japanese Garden!
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