Creative Zen Garden

About Creative Zen Garden

There is a stillness certain gardens hold, and San Marino — the city where the Huntington keeps whole walks of camellias — understands it better than most. Creative Zen Garden works in that spirit: raked gravel, placed stone, a Japanese maple given exactly the room it needs and no more. Some yards want less, not more — a composition you can rest your eyes on at the end of a day. Alongside the contemplative work runs the ordinary kind: lawns mowed, beds weeded, camellias and azaleas pruned lightly after bloom so next winter's flowers come on full. In January, when the camellias open against their dark leaves, a well-tended San Marino garden is quietly spectacular.