New Nitobe Garden

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Jul 12, 2007 7:17 pm

Work's still going on (slowly) at the new Nitobe Memorial Garden at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, B.C. Here's a picture taken today.

The big rock is perhaps one that some of us wish we had in our own gardens - I don't know what it weighs, but it's at least 6 or 7 feet tall, and a good deal more of it is sunk into the ground, so it must be a good many tons.

There's a seat next to where the picture was taken from & I think it may have been put there because of this particular view of the garden. You may notice that the outline of the rock and the outline of the tall stone plaque with the Japanese characters on it that stands at the edge of the pond are similar. When viewed from this spot, I think they give a sense of balance between the two.

Bert

George Nesfield · Post by **George Nesfield** » Jul 13, 2007 9:38 am

Hi Bert,
Looks quite impresive.
George.

Tokyo Mike · Post by **Tokyo Mike** » Jul 13, 2007 11:40 am

Very nice !
My wife thinks the large rock should be moved back and over to the right about a foot !

whis4ey · Post by **whis4ey** » Jul 13, 2007 1:25 pm

and slightly towards the camera Mike?

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Jul 13, 2007 1:54 pm

Mike,

I agree with your wife. The gap behind the rock, looks empty & makes the rock placement look not quite right. And the rock is a bit close to the path as well.

It would be an awful lot of work to actually move the rock (and too much work in Photoshop too!) so I made some other modifications to the picture.

In one, I cropped the picture so that the empty space isn't noticeable.

In another, I increased space between the rock & the path by removing a row of tiles.

And in the third, I hid the space behind the rock with a new shrub & a small rock & some ground cover (these copied from a picture I took in the Tea Garden of the original Nitobe Memorial Garden in Vancouver).

I think I like effect in the third one best....

Sam - your posting arrived a few seconds ago - maybe the cropping in the first two pictures gives the impression of the rock being nearer the camera?

Bert

whis4ey · Post by **whis4ey** » Jul 13, 2007 3:38 pm

Good work Bert
It certainly is one impressive rock

George Nesfield · Post by **George Nesfield** » Jul 13, 2007 5:05 pm

Hi Bert,
On my second look at this photo I noticed that HORRIBLE bridge.
George.

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Jul 13, 2007 6:20 pm

Hi, George,

I'm not too keen on the bridge either - the red painted steel railings really are horrible.

Your mentioning it reminded me that I'd taken some pictures of the bridge a year or so ago - here's one of them. I think the bamboo railings look, in comparison, entirely in place.

My guess is that since then, somebody has ordained that bamboo isn't safe enough for unsteady hospital patients to hold on to, & that steel railings must be put there instead.

In Hong Kong, they use bamboo scaffolding when they're building skyscrapers, so I should have thought the Bamboo was amply strong enough for a little bridge rail like this.

Steel railings are bad enough, but why it was decided to paint them red is a mystery. Maybe some safety inspector insisted that red is easier for unsteady people to see & grab hold of? Good taste has certainly been cast aside.

Bert

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » Jul 13, 2007 9:15 pm

Yes, the 3rd picture in the series is eye-calming. Very nice.

And it's really too bad they can't use the bamboo, it's more in keeping with the garden for certain. Very nice gardens, thanks for sharing them.

So you work on these gardens with others then?

Herb · Post by **Herb** » Jul 13, 2007 9:59 pm

Jane,

No, I don't work on any of these gardens. I just happen to live in Victoria, about a mile from the Royal Jubilee hospital, so it's easy to keep an eye on how their garden's progressing.

Bert