Highlighted News
Tranquility Corner - A Garden to Awake the Senses
· Escape Garden Design, Aspen, Colorado
Tranquility
McArthur Residence
Aspen, Colorado
By Jennifer Dolecki-Smith, RLA, ASLA
Inspiration
Tranquility
Healing
Inner reflection
A blend of elegance
a touch of time,
a bit of surprise
Peace
Inspiration
Home
Beginnings
A revitalization of place
A reawakening of spirit
Vision
A place where beautiful
interaction can happen with
friends,
family,
nature,
or completely within
Where life's ebbs and flows are
echoed in the shapes of the garden
Transformation
A gathering space
The crunch of gravel
The beginning of
a journey.
Evolution
A compression of views as you come around the largest plant.
A new view of the garden from within.
Distant mountains are framed by the plantings drawing you gaze outward.
A trickle of water centers and brings focus.
Stones create a reason for pause.
A Destination Revealed
from the inside out
A welcoming: A path,
a bridge,
a trickle of water,
a meditation space
At once new, and warmly familiar.
Grounded ness and history in an ever changing world.
Simply hearing the water is not enough.
It calls to share its nature through all the senses. Calm,The meditation space feels complete.
peaceful.
A circular area without beginning and
without end.
Buddha surveying the garden reminding us that silence is a powerful experience.
Nature will bear the closes Inspection. She invites us to lay our eye level with her smallest leaf, and take an insect view of its plain. - Henry David Thoreau
Reflections From the Owner
"My garden, also known as Serenity Sanctuary, is a phenomenal design. It continually changes almost daily, keeping it interesting," says Cheryl McArthur, the owner in
Aspen, Colorado. "The garden represents peacefulness to me; a quality I really wanted from my garden. I am filled with joy when I stand on my deck looking out at it."
Being a creative person, Ms. McArthur truly wanted to enjoy the process of building her dream home. She states that designing the garden was the most fulfilling part of the whole process.
"It is wonderful to see all the changes of the plants with their different color flowers and leaves take the garden through its various expressions," says Ms. McArthur. "The garden is constantly, transforming every few weeks." Ms. McArthur especially likes the large focal point moss rock boulder, with a natural bowl in it, that serves as the trickling water feature in the garden. These moss rock granite natural boulders are a trademark of Escape Garden Design's landscapes. "When the birds splash to take a bath in it, a smile of contentment comes to my face."
One of the original reasons that Ms.McArthur selected Escape Garden Design was because Phil Hedrick, one of the partners, has experience in Buddhist meditations and formally studied gardens in Japan. "He has probably experienced the peace and joy we desire," she says.
In working with Escape Garden Design, Ms. McArthur said that the company is easy to work with and completely understood what she wanted to accomplish. Ms. McArthur is thrilled and delighted that she found a company, in Escape Garden Design, that could interpret her ideas so beautifully. "I found Escape to be open to my ideas and honest. They listened to what I envisioned and created it! I like people who do what they say and say what they mean. That means the world to me."
Archive note: the image list for an original slideshow was not preserved. The available original photographs are shown here.