Created: March 1, 2006
Designer: Palmer Koelb
Builder: Palmer Koelb/Shin-boku Nursery
Days & Hours: Usually open
Entry or Parking Fees: No entry or parking fees
Phone: +1 (603) 764-9993

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Garden Description:

Shin-boku Japanese Stroll garden was built as a demonstration of Japanese gardening in the northeastern USA climate, and to provide a relaxing and educational experience.  It incorporates trees and plants trained by Shin-boku nursery staff.  The garden continues to grow in size and character.

Garden Features:

Garden paths lined with moss and other ground covers lead visitors over bridges and through most of this stroll garden.  The garden showcases stone arrangements, sheared shrubbery (tamamono 滝組石), stone lanterns (ishi-dōrō 石灯籠) , and expanses of gravel representing water in the traditional karesansui  枯山水.  The garden showcases many of Shin-boku’s trained trees.

Garden History:

Palmer Koelb was about 12 years old when his father purchased land next to the family home west of Boston, Massachusetts, and using his bulldozer, formed a wetland there into a Japanese style pond.  With many beautiful mature trees already in place, it became an area for swimming, ice skating, fishing, camping, and social gatherings.  Palmer’s father died shortly after it was built, and with no budget, Palmer traveled to local nurseries and retrieved discarded plants, doing his best to keep the Japanese feel to that first garden.  Palmer spent time in Japan during military service and developed a love of the Japanese garden spirit.  When he returned home, he started pruning trees and landscaping in the New Hampshire area. He purchased wholesale plants, planted a nursery, and three years later began selling his trees. Today, Shin-boku Nursery provides Asian styled trees and landscapes to the northeastern USA.  The Shin-boku stroll garden was begun in the spring of 2006, and continues to develop.

Gardens in the Americas