On a spring break this year at a well known family resort, I noticed that adjacent to the ‘spa’ and overlooked from the heated recliners was something called a ‘Zen garden’. I have to say I was quite taken by it and for some months pondered how something similar might be created in Dumfriesshire. Yes, it did look a bit kitschy, perhaps over-populated with items, but there was something attractive about the concept and how it faded into the surrounding woodland.
Dry or Zen gardens of course have a distinguished place in Japanese culture and are taken very seriously. Often located near temples and shrines they symbolise elements like mystery, simplicity and assymetry. Mainly comprising rocks, moss, gravel and sand, they are intended to be looked at in a meditative way from a single viewpoint. In Japan they have evolved over centuries and taken on many aspects, thereby stimulating numerous interpretations. More recently they have found multiple expressions in the west.
Since that spring encounter at the resort, I’ve pondered on a Zen garden project at home. There is a terrace where the planked decking is coming to the end of its life and could be replaced with something quite different. I even made a rough sketch of a ‘Zen garden’ that might be made there. But gradually my enthusiasm for the project has faded. Partly on practical grounds – would it work and how would it be maintained? Increasingly on aesthetic grounds – would it just look like some ill-conceived confection, born of syncretistic whimsy? I’ve slowly dropped the idea.
In fact rock and gravel are already present in my garden. I look upon them quietly most days. I’ve arranged some of the stones in a way that has a planetary dimension to it. The combination looks wonderful by moonlight, in rain, and whenever there is snow or frost. The lesson is clear. Sometimes, even in a garden, the things we seek are there already. We just need to let them find us.
The full list of pieces that make up my A-Z in the Dumfriesshire Garden in 2024 can be found here: https://davidgrahamclark.net/a-z-of-the-dumfriesshire-garden-in-2024/
Quotidian 
Thank you! We have enjoyed your A to Z, including the photographs, in which we have detected a – perhaps unconscious – zen resonance here and there in the Dumfriesshire garden. Good gardening in 2025.
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Many thanks to you both. It’s been quite a task to write the 26 pieces, but a good exercise in its own right. I wish you an excellent 2025 plus further enjoyment and success with your own writing.
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