The Huntington's New Chinese Garden (GardenDesignOnline)

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Chinese Garden Opens February 23

Just in time for spring, the Garden of Flowering Fragrance, Liu Fang Yuan, at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA, opens to the public later this month. And this 3.5 acre garden is just the first phase in a project that will eventually span an area almost four times as large.

More than 10 years in the making, the Chinese garden reflects traditional Suzhou-style scholar gardens, complete with a lake, pavilions, a tea house and tea shop, and several hand-carved stone bridges.

In the Spring/Summer 2007 issue of Huntington Frontiers, Chinese garden curator T. June Li noted that the term liu fang, flowing fragrance, was first used by Chinese writer Cao Zhi (192-232) in his Rhapsody on the Luo River Goddess. Cao describes a goddess walking through clumps of scented plants and releasing their scents, and Li says this "perfectly characterizes the sensory delight of botanical aromas that permeate the Chinese garden." At The Huntington, she says, "the fragrance of pine trees, plums, and lotus, among many plants, commingle and drift subtly over the waters of the lake, spreading throughout the garden."

In the past two years, expert artisans from China arrived to install the bridges, place sculptural "scholar rocks" around the lake, and work on the pavilions, which have intricate wood carvings and tiled roofs. Steven Koblik, president of The Huntington, said it has been an "amazing project" in every respect. "From the challenges of creating authentic Chinese structures within the parameters of California's seismic codes to the unprecedented international fund raising initiative ... I've never experienced anything quite like it," he said.

The Huntington worked closely with Chinese firms to get the details just right. Construction plans were developed by the Suzhou Institute of Landscape Architectural Design from initial drawings done by Jin Chen. And much of the construction was done by a company from Suzhou.

Traditional Suzhou gardens dated back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) and were contained within walled compounds. The gardens echoed the natural landscapes in Chinese paintings, and they were used for a variety of artistic and social functions: painting, poetry, conversation, entertainment. They often "borrowed" views from outside the garden, as The Huntington's Chinese garden borrows views from the distant San Gabriel mountains.

The plantings include mature California oaks, in keeping with the Chinese idea to incorporate the natural landscape. It also includes plants commonly found in China, including bamboo, lotus, pines, and flowering fruit trees.

(click on images to enlarge)

(all images © The Huntington)