The Garden of Tranquility

by Tom Hewitt

When it comes to garden design, the age-old adage “less is more” really does apply.  I can’t think of a better example than the new Garden of Tranquility at Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach. Though meticulously well-planned, the true beauty of this place lies in its simplicity.

Designed by Mounts Horticulturist Joel Crippen, this garden looks like a natural extension of the Sun Garden, since the two are located on opposite sides of the main walkway.  Both gardens receive bright light and use gravel as hardscape, but that’s where similarities end.  The Garden of Tranquility is much smaller, measuring only 30 by 30 feet, but appears larger because of its abundance of negative space. 

These empty areas actually help free our minds of unnecessary clutter, Crippen explains.  With few distractions, the garden acts as a blank canvas, freeing the viewer’s imagination. You enter a circular area when you walk in, lined with pavers and a simple border of monkey grass (Liriope muscari).  “This area maximizes viewing,” Crippen says, “as well as helping to dissuade foot traffic in the rest of the garden.”  Two wooden benches provide a place to sit and reflect.

Crippen, with his trademark straw hat, wide grin and calm demeanor, is the perfect one to design such a garden.  Though he’s been instrumental in designing many gardens at Mounts over the years, this one has special meaning for him. “Most of Mounts is very lush, green and tranquil in itself,” he notes, “but this garden is calming in a different way.”

Because the garden’s design doesn’t strictly adhere to one particular style, the viewer’s interpretation is completely subjective. While elements of Chinese, Japanese and other Asian garden styles are used, Crippen says, the main objective was to create a simple and clean landscape design that inspires a feeling of peace and tranquility.

The garden includes many natural, Zen-like elements, like stone, bamboo and raked gravel.  But the focal point is a hand-carved relief wall of Indonesian design.  It represents the center of our universe, Crippen explains, “whether it be our god, our family, or ourselves.”  Creeping fig (Ficus pumila) is planted at its base, which will only add to the carving’s look of antiquity as time goes by.      

One thing you won’t find here is flowers.  Most Asian-inspired gardens keep color to a minimum, relying more on structure and texture to add interest.  The fact that they look basically the same year-round is part of their charm.  In this garden, bamboo fencing on three sides isolates and delineates the space.   

Every item in this garden has special meaning.  Boulders and marble spheres are arranged artistically to depict obstacles that surround us in life.  The raked patterns in the gravel that surround these items are meant to represent the paths we choose to transverse them.  “As our universe changes,” Crippen says, “so will the garden’s design: re-raked into new paths to follow and new obstacles to overcome.”   

Just finding the right trees for the project was a challenge.  Pine trees normally found in oriental gardens, like Japanese black pines (Pinus thunbergii), don’t do well in South Florida.  Instead, Crippen opted for a genetic mutation (“witch’s broom”) from a sand pine (Pinus clausa) grafted onto sand pine rootstock. Though he’s not sure what its mature appearance will be, he knows it will have a compact habit, so he’ll be selectively pruning it to give it a “more aged” look over time.

The second tree in the garden is a southern red cedar (Juniperus virginiana var. silicicola) found at a local nursery.  “It was an overgrown specimen at the end of a row,” he says, “which had rooted out of the pot and into the ground.”  It had also fallen over and had its top broken off, but Crippen could see its potential.  To remove it, its roots had to be cut, so he knew it would most likely go into shock.  But he was going to prune it heavily anyway, to enhance its weathered appearance.  Luckily, it was just enough to minimize the stress.    

Crippen describes his creation as “a spiritual place for the mind and soul, austere in its simplicity.” In such a noisy, complicated world, tranquility gardens often remind us that it’s the silence between the notes that make the music. 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­Tom Hewitt is a freelance writer and gardening consultant in West Palm Beach.

© 2020 Tom Hewitt.  All rights reserved.    

 Note: The Garden of Tranquility was created with the generous support of Bob Eigelberger and The Gentlemen of the Garden, a nonprofit founded in 1991 that is also responsible for installing the Tropical Foliage Border at Mounts.  The group donates to many nonprofits in Palm Beach County throughout the year.