Page 48 - Demo

Top row, left to right; Secreted waterfall that fills the central pond.
Daniel under his Pond Cypress,
Taxodium ascendens
Raw beginning in 1993 of Elandan Gardens.
Middle; Central pond view. Bottom left, Cormorant, stone
sculpture by Will Robinson The Gargoyle (Lava stone)
Bottom right; Garden Shop side courtyard.
Facing Page
Top left; Daniel with a juniper
snag.
Top right; Korean Black Pine,
Pinus thumbergii
Middle left; The juniper snag by
the pond.
Middle left, lower left and right;
Natural stone lantern and an Alaska eroded stone.
Bottom left; Main garden path. Bottom right; Japanese Maple,
Acer palmatum
As Daniel’s work has evolved over time, an essential concept became apparent from tree to tree, be it the ones he collected, grew from seed, or acquired from a nursery. His pursuit of expressing ancient looking trees always reflected a history of cataclysm. This has become the tie which binds together the various ap- proaches to his work. For Daniel, tree design should in some way express the cataclysms of the tree’s life. Be it fictional or just enhancing what truly happened decades or centuries before, that history is essential.
When Daniel’s ideas are combined with visual in- spiration, courage, and a great trunk, beauty happens. A venerable image is produced and the viewers are transported to ancient forest groves inside their own imagination. A sense of awe for the struggle of life can be felt, and a profound respect for the will of the tree and its personal story of survival. That story and the ability to evoke emotion are the things which he has pursued for over 55 years.
A garden of surprises:
It’s impossible to separate the artist from his cre- ation, and Elandan is a creation like no other. To introduce you to a closer understanding of Daniel Robinson, who he is, and why he works and thinks as he does, I have to introduce you to Elandan where the heart of this artist is on display every day for all to see.
The garden itself is such a tremendous collection of individual articles that there is a great dissonance; there’s the lack of tying together, other than its all natural kinds of things. What’s the most wonderful thing is to have surprises. Surprises in life are wonderful. It’s how you surround yourself with them that is really kind of terrific, because so many things are just mundane. So for me, I’m surprised when I find some ingredient, and then I’m surprised again when I inject it into my garden, and have people come around a corner and say, “Wow, look at this!”
46 | BCI | October/November/December 2014