Message from mvhudnall

So, Clay, I went to the Huntington Library today all excited about seeing the new Chinese Gardens. Unfortunately I left my camera at home and am stuck with cell phone photos. I'll post those as soon as I figure out how to pull them off the phone In any case, heres my review of the entire trip.

First off the size of the place is absolutely awestriking. To think that this was once someone's home and estates is just bizarre from my own perspective. Grand, but a waste of resources as a private estate. As a cultural center of Southern California its a gorgeous landmark.

I immedately headed for the Chinese Gardens. I had taken the time to download the audiotour from their website and was excited about getting a inner glimpse of the place from cultural, artistic, design and production standpoints. The audiobook did indeed live up to my expectations in terms of content, but I did not finish listening to it. Why? Two reasons which end up being the same issue. First, the order of the stops seemed to take you past the same areas at least twice, and in one case makes you travel across half the garden to see something you could have hit when nearby earlier.

Second issue was that the gardens were almost completely barren of life. Anyone who hikes knows that the trail looks completely different if you take it in the opposite direction. So perhaps it would have been cool to run all over then back, but there was simply not enough life to make it appreciable.

The garden itself had all of its major components in place and functioning, including the physical structures (wall, ponds, pagodas, buildings, and decorative objects), major trees and important ornamental bushes. Otherwise the place was completely barren. By that I mean bare, freshly turned earth, completely empty of all plants, weeds, or anything. In many areas you could tell they were planning trails though something, but at the moment they were simply dirt paths surrounded by dirt. There looked to be a number of minor to medium sized waterworks that are still under construction in areas, which should also enhance the overall effect.

What about the archetecture? It was phenemonal. Highly detailed elements that were in part constructed here, and in part created by artisans in China. In the entrance is a large, but not intimidating sized gateway. As you walk in are Beautifully shaped doorways and windows(circular, flower shaped) looking out onto some truly phenomenal rockworks with a falls and pond far below. A courtyard next to that hall holds some nice, but not fantastic bonsai (chinese name escapes me...pen tsai?). The tea house was a beautiful carved latticework of designs that kept the interior an enjoyable tempature compared to outdoors. Truly appreciated in the heat of the mid-afternoon day.

The quality of the tea? I was the only one to order it on such a blazing hot day, so heres my review of the oolong. Not too bad actually! lol...it had a reasonably complex flavor actually, but I was really let down by the aroma. For something with "Fragrance" in the title, I expected a heady aroma like with my Ti Quan Yin. Instead it just smelled like tetley. A good oolong to try when there, but not worth $28 1/4 lb.

The food? My suggestion? Go vegitarian. My mom's food was actually very good as cold, premade stuff goes. My meat plate was very nasty. The meat bun was dry and I don't even want to describe what was inside. I'll stop at that with the descriptions of the meat plate.

The composition of the garden? The finest and highest paid consultants were brought in to ensure the garden reflected the ideal Chinese Garden. At the moment I can say that the major features work beautifully. The structures look like a scene from China when viewed from across the pond. Otherwise I have to simply imagine what will be in some of the larger dirt areas with paths. I'm thinking groves of bamboo and chinese maple as dividers to make the space feel larger. The path was kind of winding in some areas.

So, my suggestion is to check it out in 2-5 years. Right now its still under construction in minor ways, and has yet to be filled out with the 98% of its plant cover. They'll need at least till the end of the year to get the plants in (my guess), and another 2-3 years for the plants to really settle and start to begin filling out and propagating (except bamboo). In 10-15 years it will start to really feel like a natural setting like you find in the Japanese Gardens.

Anyhoo. I also went through the Japanese gardens and was blown away. I've been to the puny thing at CSULB and its pretty, but doesn't put you in a different place, or really feel like an authentic location. The Huntington's Japanese garden is simply unbelievable. There was obviously the time, money, and passion for japanese gardening and culture to invest in a truly immersive environment. I'm not going into too much detail on this because most people have seen it, but I have to say something

Like most great gardens, this one is arranged in a complex fashion with folliage, and some structures and decorative objects to create blocks and breaks. This disguises the actual size of the area (much like I'm sure is planned for the Chinese Garden), and exposes picturesque views of the landscape where the artist intends the viewer to focus their attentions. The effect is awestriking. It really feels like you are in another world. It is set up with a valley in the middle, and you're looking across at a japanese landscape on the other side, while standing in one yourself. Its very cool.

I'll go on about one more little bit. I was most impressed with their bonsai collection. I was a bit underwhelmed by the selection I saw initially in the Chinese Garden, but was awestruck by the variety and quality of those in the Japanese Garden. They had representitives of almost every style of bonsai composition, and high quality to world class quality examples in more than a few cases. At one point I looked around, grinned and said, "boy there sure are a lot of motion detectors around here arent there?" Yep. they have security over those and for good reason...their collection is seriously valuable.

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