Water front (back side) garden compartment

For your orientation, the groundplan is available in the Design the architecture section of the Specifics on the realization of Tsubo-en chapter.

Although the waterway behind the house, in particular the fauna in, on and around it, offers great enjoyment and entertainment, the water front or water side garden compartment as such very much has a utilitarian function. An important aspect is that it connects the main garden compartment with the left garden compartment that on its turn leads to the front garden compartment.

Spring: Carp "in love".

A cormorant (Dutch: aalscholver) on guard.

Following we give an impression of the water side garden compartment with its three terraces.

Waterside terrace, walls and stairs

The "waterside terrace" offers an ideal place to sit out of the wind and read or watch the waterway fauna. It is surrounded by walls, actually retaining walls, and must be reached by using the stairway.

The "water terrace" offers an ideal place to sit out of the wind and read or watch the waterway fauna or golf course activities. The lantern is discussed briefly in: Miscellaneous garden ornaments and small objects.
Preferable all materials used in a Japanese garden should be of natural origin.	Unfortunately this will not be feasible in all cases. Restrictions on availability, budget, accessibility and so on can all be reasons to look for alternatives. The "garden wall" bricks that have been used to construct all water front walls are such an alternative. We have used pallets full of these. These brick have been used to construct walls throughout the garden.The bricks can easily be piled up, without cement, and have a natural look because the front edges are broken.
The front garden boundary, the "waterside terrace" enclosure, and the whole length of the waterfront retaining-walls have been constructed with the same "garden wall" bricks.
The hako-zukuri shaped buxus in the stairway that leads to the "waterside terrace".
This actually is an intersection that gives access, not only to the "waterside terrace" but also to the main Veranda, the duckboards behind the house ant the path to the "hidden terrace". The lantern and the wrapped stone are discussed briefly in: Miscellaneous garden ornaments and small objects.
A winter impression of the "water side terrace".
The path just above the "waterside terrace" connects the main garden Veranda and duckboards with the "hidden terrace", behind the O-karikomi and is a connection to the utilitarian path behind the main Tsukiyama and to the right-side water front..

Hidden terrace

Like the "waterside terrace" and the "herb garden terrace", the "hidden terrace" and the path that leads to it, is also paved with cut granite and some marble.
This "hidden terrace", that is located behind the O-karikomi, was not as such included because we needed it, it merely was designed this way because the overall garden design resulted in this corner of the parcel to become a sort of "left over" in the water frond/main garden border area.
Nonetheless we have tried to integrate it in a natural fashion and we think this explains why the two stone seats are seldom used. Perhaps this will change when the trees on the right grow bigger to offer more shadow.

The "hidden terrace" is one of the four terraces. The smallest one is the "herb garden terrace" and this is the second smallest.
Juniperus horizontalis "glauca" conifers are used on the water front above the wall. Great performers, good covering and relatively low maintenance. The Cotoneaster "Coral beauty" bordering the water frond, here on the left side, although not a groundcover as such, is used to cover the ground area behind the main garden O-Karikomi. This is done so because the surface is not directly visible from the veranda and pathways and we had no other purpose or application for it in mind. For the above shrubs see: Shrubs.
Behind the house we have the duckboards that connect the main garden compartment with the left garden compartment.

	On the water bank behind the house, under the duckboards, we have this bamboo to protect our water bank from caving in.
Although a shrub this cotoneaster dammeri is discussed in the Groundcovers chapter because that is one of the major functions her. In addition it needs to protect our water bank from caving in.
	Here we have the small stairway that connects to the left side of the waterside bank. This is one of two narrow stairways located on eachs far end, left and right, of the water front.

Herb-garden terrace

The smallest terrace (what`s in a name ?) of the four we have in Tsubo-en is the "herb garden terrace". It is located on the junction with the left side garden compartment. It offers the intersection of the small stairway to the water front bank (below), the path to the front of the house and to the duckboards that connects to the main garden.
Here the buxus hedges need to be clipped. In the far end you see the front garden.

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