That question can have quite a different answer if you have an English style garden, or say, a Japanese garden. Buffalo is fortunate to have the Japanese Garden in Delaware Park, a gift of Kanazawa, Japan, our sister city. The garden is tended by the Buffalo Olmsted Conservancy.
Like all of Buffalo’s gardens and parks, the Japanese Garden suffered great damage in the October storm of 2006. To aid in its recovery, three professional garden experts from Kanazawa visited Buffalo last weekend and advised on traditional Japanese gardening techniques. The visit was arranged by the Buffalo-Kanazawa Sister City Committee and co-hosted by the Friends of the Japanese Garden.
The Japanese Garden falls under the care of Abi Echevarria, Olmsted Conservancy zone gardener. The three Kanazawa garden experts were Akihide Uemura, Hideaki Nakae, and Makoto Ura.
The gardeners did some much needed trimming on the island.
The transformation wrought by expert trimming.
While in Buffalo, the Japanese gardeners gave a lecture at the Historical Society building on the elements of traditional Japanese gardens. They also got to visit such local landmarks as the Darwin Martin House, Albright-Knox Art Gallery, and Niagara Falls.
The Sister City Committee and Friends of the Japanese Garden hope to be able to arrange for Abi to visit Kanazawa sometime in the future.