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Cranbrook’s Japanese Garden Gets Grant for Restoration
(Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Oct. 15, 2018)
Bloomfield Hills, MI – Created in 1915 by Cranbrook founder George Booth and his father, Henry Wood Booth, Cranbrook’s Japanese Garden is among the oldest in North America. Although the garden today remains a place of inspiration and renewal for visitors, the space itself needs rejuvenation. With the support of the Consulate General of Japan in Detroit, the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research has received a grant from the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) that will kickoff the necessary work.
“There are six gardens worldwide that received one of these grants this year,” said Gregory Wittkopp, Director of the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, “We are very fortunate to be one of these six gardens.”
The MLIT grant provided funding to bring six gardeners to Cranbrook from the Japan Federation of Landscape Contractors. Over the course of six days, the gardeners will help to transform one corner of Cranbrook’s Japanese Garden, the Lily Pond Cascade, into what will once again be a place of beauty and contemplation. The work on the Lily Pond Cascade is the first of a six-phase Master Plan for the entire Cranbrook Japanese Garden that is being designed by Sadafumi Uchiyama (shown above), Garden Curator of the Portland Japanese Garden in Oregon. The Master Plan study is being funded through a gift from Jeanne Graham.
Wittkopp said that Cranbrook “wants to respect the history and legacy of the garden, while also taking the opportunity to enhance it. Our goal is to make sure that this becomes a garden that is actively used for a variety of reasons, and that people find meaning here.”
Learn more about Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research at https://center.cranbrook.edu/discover/places-cranbrook/japanese-garden