There is something about being in nature that is both calming and invigorating. The peaceful simplicity of tall grasses swaying in the wind, the buzzing and chirping of a simpler life, the gentle trickling of water as it carves its way down a natural rock bed--all of these elements envelop you, slowing you down, opening your eyes, and lightening your soul. These types of landscapes are so important to our busy modern lives because only in these moments when you allow yourself to slow down and harmonize with nature, do you realize what is truly important. With the help of the Scott Education and Community Foundation and several Georgetown businesses and leaders (and the volunteers who made it happen), there is yet another beautiful sanctuary in the Bluegrass in which to renew ourselves: the Yuko-En on the Elkhorn, The Kentucky-Japan Friendship Garden.
Yuko-En on the Elkhorn is one of the nation's largest public Japanese gardens and the first such garden in Kentucky. Created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Georgetown's relationship with Sister City Tahara-cho in 2000, Yuko-En represents the culmination of two very similar, yet very different, communities.
"The Sister City program was created in 1990," said community leader Milt Patton, who played a vital role in the creation and implementation of the Yuko-En. "The first Toyota plant outside of Toyota City, Japan, was in Tahara-cho, and when Toyota came here to Georgetown in '85, it was only fitting that we develop a relationship with them. In many ways, Tahara-cho is identical to Georgetown-Scott County, in terms of population and size--it's incredible the similarities between the people."
"In 1998, three of us from the Scott Education and Community Foundation decided it would be appropriate if we sent a couple people to Tahara, which had always been the initiator. We felt it was our turn to stand up and show some leadership," said Patton. "So we sat down with Tahara's leaders and discussed the anniversary and suggested it would be ideal for Scott County to develop this Japanese garden, to represent our link to Japan. We were really under way at the time the Tahara people visited in 2000."
From the original concept and design to the formation, funding, and maintenance of the grounds, all of it was made possible through the hard work and dedication of local volunteers, businesses, and community leaders, including Toyota and the community of Tahara-cho, which donated $93,000 toward the $1 million project.
"We had a design team of four that worked very well together--Steve [Austin], Jeff [Singer], Brent [Combs], and myself," said Patton. "Just the contribution of professional time had to be in the neighborhood of $250-$300,000, and the time spent is incalculable. And the number of volunteers who helped during the construction of it were so important--it was like an old-fashioned barn raising."
Before construction began, the team headed to the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis, home to one of the largest Japanese gardens in the country. "The purpose of the trip was to gather ideas about garden design, maintenance, and the programming of events," said Steve Austin, landscape architect and former director of the Georgetown Planning Commission. "The trip was successful in many respects, but perhaps most so because I was introduced to the method of garden design employed there: ink-wash sketches. The master who designed the St. Louis garden, Koichi Kawana, gave voice to his intentions by preparing deceptively simple-looking black and white paintings. These were both hypothetical and yet real visions of what he wanted to achieve in a certain area. The paintings were enormously expressive and impressiveÖI resolved to make a similar attempt."
Austin's "attempt" got the creative ball rolling. "Steve really picked up the idea of the sketches," said Yuko-En co-designer Jeff Singer. "So shortly after we got back, Steve produced half a dozen or so [sketches] for our garden along with a plan. Milt and I took the plan and the sketches and basically built the garden from that. We had some assistance from the Georgetown Public Works and Beautification departments, and the Scott Co. Highway Department."
Although there was a basic plan in place, the team members found themselves changing elements, literally, with the bulldozer running. "We were taking advantage of opportunities the garden gave us," said Singer of Yuko-En's six-acre lot. "Sometimes the bulldozer would be out there and the plan would change. It really helped the site tell us what to do. When people see the garden now, the universal comment is how peaceful it is. We were very sensitive to what the site told us on what to do and what not to do. The garden has very nice harmony with its site."
Japanese gardens, in particular, center around the earth's natural elements, but with an added emphasis on contemplation and reflection (i.e. the Zen garden). Also, Japanese gardens tend to be more of a compilation of smaller gardens, connected by intimate paths and rockways, often referred to as a strolling garden. The design theme for the Yuko-En on the Elkhorn "is a Bluegrass garden in Japanese stroll garden style," according to the Yuko-En Welcome brochure.
Nestled in the heart of the Elkhorn Trail Corridor system near downtown Georgetown and adjacent to the historic Cardome Center, the garden features both Japanese and Kentucky elements, like rows of native cane (a plant similar to Japanese bamboo), American and Japanese maples, snow lanterns, a koi lagoon, Zen garden, and, of course, the rolling hills of Kentucky--which took 1,400 truckloads of soil to replicate.
"We used our own material because, honestly, it's impossible to take the geology of Kyoto or Japan and put it in this environment, so we used native plants and rocks," said Patton. "Our objective was to make it a people place, and we chose Jane [Ahrends] because of our objective for community programs."
Jane Ahrends is the community and education program director for Yuko-En and oversees school programs and tours. Over 10,000 visitors came to the garden in 2003, 3,500 of which were involved in educational programs or tours. Springtime visits of all third graders in Scott County have included learning stations along the pathway for science, water quality, pioneer history, stone wall building, drawing, martial arts, environment, as well as international themes.
"I love educating the kids," said Ahrends, who has been director since 2002. "They're so creative and excited; they absorb so much."
The garden provides a wonderful environment for learning, whether for a child of 5 or 95. You can choose to take a guided tour with Ahrends (which come strongly recommended) or you can pick up a Welcome brochure outside the Tokugawa gates. One thing you will learn early on in the tour is that doors are considered the most important element in Japanese architecture. Japanese and Middle Eastern gardens are considered paradise, so when you enter through the gates, you leave your worries and the outside world behind.
"People are finding their own meaning in the gardens," said Patton. "Almost universally, what appeals to them is the experience--it's serene. A policeman in town told me one day, with serious meaning in his eyes and expression, 'Milt, when you started that [garden], I thought it was the craziest thing in the world. But now I come to that garden because it is the most serene and quiet place in Scott County.'"
Although many features of the garden have been completed, several projects are still underway, like the future Four Seasons Environmental Education Pavilion, and, according to Singer, there's no end in sight. "The garden will never be done," said Singer, who is also a landscape architect. "We've only been working on it for five years, and Kyoto took 500. We've got three or four fairly major projects we've talked about adding. Then we'll get to a point when it's basically done but I think we'll always be adding to it--it's a garden."
"A garden is a living thing, not only biologically but symbolically as well," said Austin. "As gardens grow, we live through them. Their seasons mark ours; their changes speak for us. We literally measure our lives through them. Gardens are, in this fragmented, dangerous world, unchanging--the core of our being."