THE PURE REALM GARDEN OF MT. POTALAKA
BOULDER, CO
ROLE: LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, HANDS-ON CONSTRUCTION & MAINTENANCE TRAINING
Project Team: Hirshberg/Client, TMW Stonemasons, & Tree of Life Landscaping
The Pure Realm Garden of Mount Potalaka is a garden of spirit. The ‘Realm of Avalokitesvara’ is summoned through the creation of a stroll style karesansui garden (dry landscape garden) anchored with a local serene mountain stone and plant palette.
Desirae D. Wood pulled meaning and form from two sources of inspiration for this meditation garden. The first inspires the garden’s poetic image for contemplation; the ‘Fudaraku-san-en’ treatise written by the Client, a Professor and Teacher of Tibetan Buddhism, which describes in great detail Mount Potalaka and the Potala Palace - the realm of Avalokitesvara, known as Guanyin, who is the bodhisattva of compassion. The second, the Kagawa Residence Garden, a stroll style karesansui garden with strong stone placements, flowing landforms and coves by Mirei Shigemori, inspires the physical garden sceneries.
Native and adaptive plants serve as the structural layer while a diverse flowering groundcover matrix grounds the site in a unique gravel and crevice style planting. Construction began in the summer of 2023.