Tours of the Japanese Garden at Duke Farms offer something for body, mind and spirit.
By: Ilene Dube
It’s a cold rainy morning in June and the traffic on Route 206 is snarled from Princeton to Hillsborough. Entering the guarded gates to Duke Farms, one is instantly transported to a Shangri La, where a canopy of green soothes the suburban soul. Even the air changes from one redolent of exhaust fumes to a honeysuckle blend.
The folks at Duke Farms have been adding new tours each year. In 2003, the grounds opened for the first time since the days of James Buchanan Duke, the tobacco and power magnate who hired Frederick Law Olmstead to design the 2,700-acre park-like retreat. In 2004, Duke Farms celebrated the 40th anniversary of the opening of the Garden of Nations, an acre under glass, and in 2005 tours of the country manor where Doris Duke lived and swam were offered for the first time.
This year, visitors can tour the Outdoor Japanese Garden, planted by J.B. Duke and re-envisioned as a stroll-style garden in the 1930s by his daughter, Doris.
The gently falling rain is a reminder of how J.B. created a system of lakes that descend like stepping stones with water falling from one to the next, eventually ending in the Raritan River, where it is pumped back up for hydroelectric power.
We ride a shuttle out to the 55-room, 67,000 square-foot manor house, where the tour begins. This is an outdoor walk and we are warned to beware of poison ivy and ticks.
We cross the south lawn, getting a view of the house, fountains, a garden and animal statuary that makes you look twice is that a real deer?
"Japanese gardens provide a space to experience nature that invokes body, mind and spirit," says Joanne Vogel, our guide. As if on cue, a bell chimes from the tower of the coach barn. The sound and the rain make it feel like the English countryside.
It is estimated that J.B. planted 2 million trees and shrubs in the early 1900s, and they have reached maturity in the landscape. "The path to the Japanese Garden is for contemplation and letting nature envelope us and raise awareness of the self," says Ms. Vogel, who holds a master’s degree in mapping plant communities and wetlands and worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service for 15 years. "You can stop here to wonder as you look at the 100-year-old red oak the state tree or at the native redbud."
When Ms. Vogel comes to a hemlock, she stops and points to fuzzy white spots on its needles. "Natural processes are not always benign," she says. "Pests that are not native are putting hemlocks in peril. The woolly adelgid sucks the juice out and defoliates the tree."
It’s jolting: even here, surrounded by the stately magnificence of Duke Farms, an ugly pest can’t be controlled and is destroying trees? It gets worse.
Ms. Vogel points out maple trees but these are Norway maples, an invasive tree in the U.S. "Everyone loves burning bush, but it’s very invasive. So is barberry, brought here because it is beautiful." We learn that even those magnificent Japanese maples, planted for the Japanese Garden, are invasive. "In the canopy, we should see red maples, redbuds, winterberries, arrow wood and cherry-leaf viburnum, but instead we’re seeing a monoculture of invasives." Ms. Vogel, a certified master gardener, makes it clear this walk is intended to raise awareness.
Deer don’t like the invasives as much as they like the native plants, and so the invasives outcompete the native plants. "And the landscape is changing so quickly, the fauna can’t keep up," she continues. "The food web is affected by the change to the ecosystem. Biodiversity is at risk. People think, ‘If it’s green, what does it matter?’ But birds traveling from Panama may be looking for columbine and all they find is garlic mustard or lesser celandine. It’s like you drove all the way to your favorite restaurant and there was no food left."
Wasn’t this supposed to be a tour of a beautiful garden? Instead it seems like the latest summer horror film. The good news is there are 65 research projects underway at Duke Farms Doris was an environmentalist, and her will called for her money to be spent on environmental projects. Researchers have blocked off certain parts of the property with fencing to see if native plants will come back when the deer are not Hoovering them up.
Another good omen: A green heron passes over one of the lakes. Bobolinks, meadow larks, sparrows, vespers, bald eagles, osprey and Cooper’s hawk call it home here, and with great blue herons it all adds up to a birder’s paradise. This wildlife oasis provides sanctuary to 24 species of mammals including river otter, 19 species of reptiles and amphibians and nine species of fish.
More good news: We see a 100-year-old silver maple with burls. This disease exposes the inner part of the tree and provides habitat for flying squirrels, owls and woodpeckers.
We take a winding path that starts as stepping stones, changes to logs and then shredded wood; this is intended to vary the pace so the garden can be revealed one step at a time. "It’s like a veil is being lifted, and as the path winds, the story is revealed to you," says Ms. Vogel. Kasuga lanterns line the path; traditionally a votive would be placed in each to light the way at forks, where a choice has to be made.
A curved red bridge over a body of water was the original entry to this garden, but that has been closed off for safety and other bridges lead visitors into the garden. "The bridge was symbolic of crossing from one world to another, or from one state of mind to another," says Ms. Vogel. It was painted red after cinnabar, a mineral that was believed to have protective properties.
There is much symbolism here. When the cherry and plum trees bloom, it symbolizes perseverance, getting through the storm (winter) and "smiling" when it’s over, says Ms. Vogel.
Boulders covered with moss are strewn through the garden to represent age, wisdom, stability and strength. Benches are placed for meditation, smelling, tasting, feeling the wind or listening to the rain on a day such as this.
A Japanese arbor provides shelter, as well as a view in every direction. Evergreens and bamboo grow in the surrounding area; the evergreens represent longevity, and with its prolific nature, bamboo represents good fortune. Bamboo stalks are used to create the illusion of panes in the window-like openings of the arbor.
Making the most of the weather, Ms. Vogel says "the Japanese love the veil of rain and the sounds of water and how wildlife acts differently from exposure to moisture." Japan, she points out, is an island surrounded by the sea, and there is never a Japanese garden without water, even if it’s just a dry river bed to symbolize water.
After passing a grove of May apple, flowering dogwood and redbud, we come upon a band of wood sprites. These elven figures, cast in bronze during J.B.’s time, are having a jolly time playing tambourine, accordion and drum. Over the years, some of their instruments have been returned to nature.
"It’s a tiny jewel, a landscape within a landscape," says Ms. Vogel as we leave the garden, passing a waterfall. "You don’t see specimens like this. It represents nature in a way you’ve never thought of."
Guided walking tours of the Japanese Gardens at Duke Farms, 80 Route
206 South, Hillsborough, are offered Wed.-Fri., 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m., June-Nov. Weatherproof
walking shoes are recommended for the one-hour tour. Tickets cost $10. To reserve,
call (908) 722-3700. Duke Farms on the Web: www.dukefarms.org