Green Pearl Dragon
a luxurious, Asian-style entrance garden, and koi pond in the spirit of the great gardens of KyotoThe Dream
“I want rocks like the great gardens of Kyoto, Japan” was the very clear request our client made for her garden. Quite a seemingly impossible request at that.
The Challenge
This garden had to be created on a site where an exercise pool had formerly taken up the entire entrance area. The home houses a museum-quality Neolithic Chinese ceramic art collection, so the garden needed to reflect the same level of quality and taste. In addition, fulfilling the client’s request for a Kyoto-style garden was in itself an extraordinary challenge given the limited space and the imposing task of finding rocks like those.
The Garden
Green Pearl Dragon is a Zen-style garden designed perfectly to scale.
For this project, we were blessed to find and collaborate with an exceptional hydraulic engineer. His proprietary equipment was able to water blast freshly quarried granite kniese boulders to create the look of tens of millions of years of aging. The results are astounding and truly unique.
We invented a proprietary waterfall and pond construction system. True to the spirit of an Zen rock garden it is sparsely planted. Breaking out the sides of the pool, reshaping the bottom, and adding a filtration system the pool was transformed into a koi pond.
Viriditas also designed and built an Asian-style gate, incorporating antique gate panels, a wall topping, and a Tea House (in conjunction with the artist Russell Ferguson)
The RESULTS
Green Pearl Dragon garden is a world unto itself. Though it is small, a Saudi princess—who has acres of gardens in multiple palaces—complimented it as one of the most beautiful gardens she had ever seen.
The view used to be there, but now it’s right here, even inside the house.
Owner, Le Jardin De Mon Coeur
