Garden Decor

A Japanese shrine path at dusk, a granite lantern lit for the walk. Garden decor takes in antique carved stone figures, Chinese gongshi or scholar’s rocks, stone lanterns, birdbaths, fountains and architectural fragments that move outdoors well. Japanese granite tōrō once lit the paths to shrines and tea houses; Chinese spirit stones were prized for their holes, ridges and sense of a mountain in miniature; Balinese guardians carved in volcanic stone stand at gates and steps. Weather adds what no workshop can: moss, lichen, a bloom of mineral salts. A lantern half-hidden in ferns, or a scholar’s rock on raked gravel, gives a garden a point of stillness.