The Japanese Garden at the Oklahoma State University Botanic Garden in Stillwater, Oklahoma is a good example of a garden designed to educate people about some of the plants and features associated with Japanese gardening.
The garden is small and seemingly cramped with features that are too numerous for the area dedicated to the garden. Unfortunately, the garden needs a lot of work. Weeds are numerous and many plantings are just not well cared for. Although the effort is noteworthy, and the mission of education positive, the overall appearance would benefit from a "less is more" approach.
The small red wooden bridge is really not a good idea. I would remove it from the garden.
On the other hand, there are some nice features that create wonderful scenes.
The wooden zig-zag bridge is a nice feature worthy of some attention and care.
Unkept lanterns do not contribute positively to the overall appearance of the garden. These could be easily fixed. Perhaps with some volunteer (or student) time and some more funding.
I really liked the possibility of the garden. However, it needs some work. The problem I see here, as I do in many gardens, is that OSU needs to recognize that a Japanese garden requires much more maintenance than other types of gardens. Without constant care, Japanese gardens quickly revert to nature. People think that Japanese gardens are "all natural," but nothing could be father from the truth. They are completely fabricated by humans, hence, remove the humans (regular maintenance), and you loose the garden.
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