Creative Zen in San Marino -Karesansui

[vincesamara]

First of all let me say thank you for Koiphen moderators to create this awesome section for us so called "pro" who are doing it for living and perhaps with every bit of passion and delusion to showcase our work.

This build involves no pond. But doesnt mean the element of water is absent from the garden. Karesansui or "dry" garden uses gravel/sand to symbolize the ocean, moss and rocks to mimic the coast and mountains. It may be simple and minimal but there are rules to follow in creating Zen. The result of that is producing silence and calming the mind who enters the garden.

It began with this. The owner had problem with racoon flipping the newly installed sod.
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So we came up with a few designs and agreed with this one

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Here is the initial design that we started on youtube.

http://youtu.be/g2Lvz_AJJtc

[vincesamara]

So demolation began. Me, Armando and a skidsteer did it in 2 days.

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Total 5 tons of concrete and red bricks were excavated.

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Clean slate, sort of.

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[vincesamara]

The owner's wife were scheduled to leave out of the country for a month. So she requested if We can buy and place the boulder right away so she can see them placed and orientated to her liking. I knew that this would make the job harder and added more cost. I'd normally place boulders after grading and contouring is done. But knowing that this is very important for her I had to make it happen.

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Me on top of one ton rock.

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So then we moved on to forming the concrete retaining wall. The wall measures 2 feet high and 8 inch thick with an "S" shape. Originally this would be a monolithic pour for the wall and floor, but the owner had just contracted a solar company and they require to run conduit between the garage and the house, so the floor has to be done at the last stage.

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Getting down the curved form.

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My recovery drink

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[vincesamara]

I had to search for a "moss dealer" since my local bonsai nursery cannot provide me with 400 sqft of kyoto moss that I'd normally used. I found a guy in North Carolina that does moss, only moss! His name is David from Moss and stone garden, look him up, he is super cool and knows his moss! There are quite few articles that he wrote to give you idea what a moss is all about.
http://www.mossandstonegardens.com

So on day 9th the moss arrived.

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Since grading wasnt done yet, waiting for the concrete to cured, I had to unpack the moss and lay them on the ground to keep them ready.

It took me a day to excavate 6" of soil and moved them to the wall to create the hills and mountain side. And placed the last 3 small boulder on top.

Mean time, I had socal pavers came and install the brick border and landing pad in front of the deck. This guys were fast.

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So the ground was graded, weed barrier installed, DG placed, the mountain was created and sprinklers were laid, here came the moss.

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Here was the karesansui looked before the gravel

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[vincesamara]

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I had to use my truck bed to haul the gravel. I cannot find any dump trailler available for rent near by. I hate this because it created a mess of my truck.

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I purchased my rocks and gravel from Sun Burst in Irwindale. They carry all sort of decorative rocks.
And they are all nice people except the loader driver who always give me a stink eye everytime I ask him to pull out a ton of particular border out of the back pile and decided not to take it because it doesnt look good. Hey, its gotta look good or I wont buy it!

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So Bernie (my supposedly helper of the day) decided to call sick, I think he did it on purpose. I had no one to help me to unload this thing, and no skidsteer loader. So wth! I did 3 truck load of this thing, total of 6 cuyd, by myself. Never will again!

3 truck load equals 3 of this

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But so worth it.

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No karesansui can be done without a custom rake. Regular garden rake or golf bunker rake wont do the job. The bigger the gravel the bigger the rake gap you will need. So trying to find one for sale is almost impossible.
Giving a karesansui without a rake is like giving you a cake but you cannot eat it.
So i had to fabricated one, out of a broom and 2x4 [emoji1]

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So here is the almost complete karesansui

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The project is pretty much done. I am still waiting for the solar company to back fill the trench so I can pour concrete on the pathway floor.

I enjoy working this project. Simply because the owner is a great person to work with and the planning and execution was pretty much flawless.

Thank you for reading. I hope this post entertained your curious mind and raised few questions.

Cheers!
V. Samara

[koisan]

Very nice, Vince. Great job!

[Sweetwater]

Nice job Vince!

[rainblood]

Nice.
How hard is it to keep moss alive?

[tsippel]

where is the pond

[vincesamara]

Nice.
How hard is it to keep moss alive?

Moss is considered very hardy. They only require 2 most basic element, light and water to thrive. Moss has no roots, so they could care less where you place them as long as the surface is stable and undisturbed, thats why you see them on rocks, woods, etc.
Once they are established on their new ground, moss can be drought resistant. Just the first 3 months, moss requires high frequency of shallow watering (like misting) to speed up the settlement process. Heavy watering is not advised.

[vincesamara]

where is the pond

Nada

[ttankofish1]

Very nice!


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[vincesamara]

Gracias muchachos!

[koi4u2c]

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Moss grows around my yard near the woods, but I thought it was too hot for it in San Marino. Here it usually grows in moist shady areas and most frequently on the north side of trees and buildings.

[icu2]

In Washington moss grows on everything. And doesn't require mowing like grass. :)
I love the custom rake! Beautiful landscaping. :thumb:

[vincesamara]

Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Moss grows around my yard near the woods, but I thought it was too hot for it in San Marino. Here it usually grows in moist shady areas and most frequently on the north side of trees and buildings.

Your keyword there is "moist". Without water, moss will go dormant, not die. Without light, moss will also go dormant, not die.
In hot and full sun section, frequent misting is recommended. But it must be already established to its new place.

Misting uses minimal water. Misting is very effective for moss. You dont want to soak the ground, they dont have roots!!! And they dont like to be drowned in water.

We use mist sprinkler system for this garden. Mist long enough where the ground underneath is not soaking wet.

Generally people think moss can only thrive in shadow area. Thats somewhat true because shadow area keeps moisture longer. But if you keep sunny area moist, moss keeps growing. Unless if you want them dormant and safe water, mist infrequent.

What happen to moss if you dont water them at all for a long period of time? Again, they go dormant, they get lighter and brown, easily to be blown by the wind, or your gardener in our case.
In this build, if you look closely, i have installed black pond netting over the moss. The net helps anchoring the moss down until they reestablish themselves. The net also helps the moss from getting blown by the wind if any chance they dont get enough moisture.

I hope you get my drift.

[vincesamara]

In Washington moss grows on everything. And doesn't require mowing like grass. :)
I love the custom rake! Beautiful landscaping. :thumb:

Thanks Steve.

[OCkoiFan]

Very nice... I hope you leave the custom rake for them in case dogs, or gardeners screw up the lines.:like:

[vincesamara]

Very nice... I hope you leave the custom rake for them in case dogs, or gardeners screw up the lines.:like:

Lol, I made those rakes as gift for him. He was ecstatic. It was a small gesture I could give to return his generousity.

[Mark Anderson]

Great job, very artistic. That beer looks good especially after moving all that stone by yourself! Now one question.....how do you keep those pesky raccoons from flipping the moss?

[vincesamara]

I dont fight someone else's war.

[jimfish98]

Great job, very artistic. That beer looks good especially after moving all that stone by yourself! Now one question.....how do you keep those pesky raccoons from flipping the moss?

While upfront, it would be unappealing, I would use chicken wire. Its thin, can be pinned down, and can easily be over grown by the moss to make it invisible. It's just not worth the cost of effort unless the raccoons start doing damage.

[vincesamara]

The pond net is pinned down

[stevek]

How do you ( they ) keep the gravel clean ? Looks like they have a fair amount of leaves that will settle in. Do you use a blower to avoid footprints and reraking the pattern every time ?

[vincesamara]

There is no wrong way to play. You may erase your pattern as your heart desire. There are few technics that you can learn on how to rake. Search "karesansui" on you tube.
What I suggest, blow the leaves, re rake the gravel evenly using the garden rake to re create a "new canvas". Walk backwards, and chose your exit path carefully, and clean your foot print from the outside or standing on top of a rock.

When you do this, everything stops. Time does not exist. This is one form of meditation. Your karesansui is becoming your sacret ground, just like our koi pond.

[delbert]

looks real good !! vince

[vincesamara]

Thanks debert

[bbmc88]

Stunning and very creative


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[tinyfisher]

Nice, thanks for sharing your build. Thanks also for the link to the moss site!

[vincesamara]

Thanks bbmc88.

tinyfisher, David got few nice variety. I would recommend you to try few small pieces. You be surprise how easy it is to keep moss.

[Paultergeist]

Great job, Vince! Thank you for sharing the pictures of the build. It is exciting to see your still-young company thriving!

Paul

[vincesamara]

Thanks Paul.

[FIT BMX]

First of all, I love that bed rack in your pickup, and I really need a trailer like that!:yes:

Holly monkey, that is a lot of moss!:eek1: But it all looks really great, I bet it looks even better after the moss has grown in. :)

[gander]

Looks really great

[vincesamara]

Thanks. We've got some rain this week, it'd help the moss settling faster.

[vincesamara]

Its very enjoyable when you get paid for creating what you love. But this brings you up to another level when your client gave you positive reviews

http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20160320/78ac1f2af5b885808ce737702c2d74c4.jpg

You may please read more about my clients testimonial at:

http://www.creativezen-inc.com/about

[vincesamara]

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Updating progress. Moss has established very well. We added moss on the sides of those far three rock islands per owner request.

Amazing thing is that the moss gets visited by Bees everyday. Especially during late afternoon, weird thing is only the low side section by the stepping stones near the wall get visited. Bees would hover around and dived into the moss. These bees are peaceful. I think they are there just to drink water droplets, and could care less about me sitting next to them.

[ttankofish1]

I keep honey bees. They like a water source where they can get to water without falling in and a smell or odor to it. The odor is believed to help them tell the other bees in the hive how to find the water source. Bees are amazing creatures!


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[OCkoiFan]

Hey Vince
How thick or deep is the gravel? 3"?

[vijama]

Hi Vince,

I would like to know what size of gravel you used? And also how well the raked form is holding against wind and rain?

[vincesamara]

About 3-4" deep. I think any size gravel under 1/2" would hold form. I prefer 3/8".
The purpose of raking is to meditate. Nothing last. Let wind and rain, or raccoon runs through it.

[kimini]

Now that it's been nearly 18 months, how is the moss holding up?

[vincesamara]

Now that it's been nearly 18 months, how is the moss holding up?

We replaced it with succulents and moved the moss to the shaded rear section of the guest house, for less watering.

[fairlady]

Any updated pictures with the succulents?