Jul 11, 2008 7:59 am US/Central
Tour Master Gardeners' Work This Weekend
EDINA, Minn. (WCCO) ―
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Larry Cipolla has five types of Japanese gardens in his backyard in Edina, Minn.
CBS
One of the places you will be able to visit this weekend as part of the first-ever Hennepin County Master Gardener Learning Garden Tour is Larry Cipolla's backyard.
Cipolla lives in Edina and has five types of Japanese gardens in his single backyard. He's spent a lot of time trying to make his gardens as authentic as possible, so they closely resemble what you would see in Japan.
"Typically in a western garden it is just color all over. It's sort of a cacophony of color." Cipolla said. "It's fine. It works for a lot of people but in my zen gardens and my other style gardens it is fairly subdued. And for me it is very peaceful and tranquil."
Cipolla said one of his favorite components of a Japanese garden is a pond, which is easier to create than you might think.
"What you are looking at here is ... our small pond. Anyone can build this in a weekend or maybe 3 or 4 days for sure," Cipolla explained. "It is made of concrete. Very small, there's only about 35 gallons of water in here and the hard part is to dig the hole and that soil becomes your hill, or where your waterfall is and then because this is concrete, you have to know a little bit about concrete, but that's pretty easy to do with all the ready mix concretes."
Cipolla explained how he got flowing water in his pond.
"If you just think of a circle and what happens is there is a reservoir of water, 35 gallons, there is a pump at the bottom of that and there is a tube that goes from the bottom to the top of the water fall that makes the flow," Cipolla said. "The water constantly circulates. There is nothing connected from the house."
Cipolla also has nearly 100 varieties of hostas in his gardens. He also has a tea house in his garden, complete with a gong. He said his appreciation of Japanese gardens goes back to the 1960s, when he spent a year in Japan.
Cipolla's garden will be open to the public Saturday from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. as part of the
Hennepin County Master Gardener Learning Garden Tour. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 Saturday.
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