One of my goals for Yordie’s Zen Garden is to continually add little elements and features that create a mystery sandwich in the garden experience.

It is surprising the number of people who come to Yordie’s Zen Garden, cam around then take off and think they’ve experienced Yordie’s Zen Garden. I noticed at the old garden in Chodron, people would never discover the cafe on the pond, perhaps because the trail seemed to be slightly hidden in the bamboo forest. Interestingly, at the new garden, the people who do discover the cafe seem to hangout there a lot and that is where most of the plot’s traffic numbers are biggest.

Yordie’s Zen Garden has little secrets to discover, for example, by touching the Buddhist monument you will be given a “Introduction to Buddhism”. Or you can request that the tea ceremony set play an “Introduction to The Tea Ceremony.” There are little places where few ever seem to go, missing the main point of a strolling garden, the multifaceted views. There are even secret places in the garden. Next time you are at the garden, look around and check things out.

By the way, I recently put the contents for four more boxes of bamboo trees into the garden. Actually, I have lost count of the number of bamboo trees I’ve installed at the garden. I estimate there are over 200 bamboo objects representing perhaps 4000 or more bamboo trees. You can never have too much bamboo.