The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum Chinese Garden

Located within the The Minnesota Landscape Arboretum resides a Chinese Garden known as The Garden of Harmonious Beauty. Built in 2017, the garden represents a partnership between the Arboretum, and Shaanxi Province in the People's Republic of China.

Website: https://arb.umn.edu/specialty-gardens/chinese

I have to admit that I struggled to enjoy this garden. There are four major elements that comprise the hardscape features of the garden. There are also a substantial number of plants listed in the Arboretum's website about the planting within the garden.

However, the plantings are spread out and there seems to be a disconnect between the plants and the hardscape elements. Described as an example of "balance, harmony, and the interconnectedness of all things," I instead saw glimpses of features that seemed disconnected. Sorry, I only experienced minimal harmony.

The dramatic 8' Moon Gate was impressive, but isolated and alone.

An overlook platform provided views of the Qinling Mountain Rocks across the pond. However, the space was vast and seemed empty and needing of purpose.

The pathway around the shore brought one to the Peony Pavilion, but a path towards the rock formations was not clearly defined.

The Peony Pavilion was authentic, but the immediate area around it was devoid of any significant plantings. It did offer views across the pond, but the platform area and the Moon Gate beyond seemed distant and disconnected.

The Qinling Mountian Rocks were worth a close inspection, regardless of the lack of clearly defined access. Doing so allowed one to see the carved characters up close. Also, the view across to the platform and moon gate were actually interesting.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the garden. The intent of was good, but in this case, the design and execution was not so well done. Perhaps in the future the garden can have some additional hardscape features added. Doing so may connect the distant and separated elements together so that a real sense of balance and harmony can be achieved (see the Lan Su Garden and Snug Harbor Chinese Scholar's Garden for examples of well developed Chinese gardens in North America).