The Secret Garden

The stunning diversity of the Japanese maple is celebrated in the Walkers’ plantings.

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Tucked at the end of a quiet street on a rolling, four-acre lot sits the home of Jody and Danna Walker. Enter this jewel-sized park and you’ll notice a gracious arbor of tulip poplars, dogwoods, oaks, and even an impressive Northern catalpa tree that blooms each spring.

Even among such natural bounty, the couple’s vast collection of Japanese maple trees command center stage. When I first heard about their garden, I was surprised they concentrated on a single tree species. But the beauty of the Japanese maple is its dazzling array of sizes, shapes, and colors: from squat weepers and slow-growing mounders like Acer palmatum ‘Viridis,’ to upright, long-limbed beauties such as the cultivar Acer palmatum, the maple native to Japan, crowned with lush canopies of green and garnet foliage. Their diversity is stunning.

The Walkers grow more than 100 different cultivars in their yard, with some species, like Acer buergerianum ‘Mino,’ rare to find in home gardens. Lucky visitors will discover sculptural trees sited in eye-catching arrangements next to moss-covered boulders or granite lanterns which add balance to each view. 

The couple’s passion took root in the mid-1990s, with the purchase of bonsai maples from nurseryman Edric Owen of Owen Farms Nursery in Ripley. Though bonsai maintenance proved a bit too demanding, it introduced them to the Japanese maple world. Owen carried an assortment of unusual and rare maple cultivars through his catalog business and specimens that grew too big for shipping got marked down. So the couple scooped up their first trees for as little as $10 apiece. They grew them in pots on the patio for several years as they pored over their go-to source, the Japanese Maple Encyclopedia, to learn more about each species. A long-time circuit court judge, Walker says the intellectual pursuit held appeal.

“Research was a large part of the process because you’re not just buying a tree, it has a history. Different cultivars have different natures so you have to know what you’re looking at and what they would look like when mature.”

The more they learned, the more inspired they became. Soon, the Walkers were traveling to view other gardens: the Portland (Oregon) Japanese Garden, the Yashiro Japanese Garden in Olympia, Washington, and even gardens in Japan. During each visit, Jody would keep his camera at the ready, taking photos for ideas he could reference for future projects.

What gradually evolved over 20 years is impressive. Theirs isn’t a Japanese garden in the traditional sense. “We’re not purists,” the judge notes. Rather, the Walkers’ is a Japanese-themed garden which beautifully reflects their artful, observant sensibility.

Grown for Shape and Style

Japanese maples have been cultivated in Japan for hundreds of years and are grown for specific characteristics: leaf shape and color, size, and growing style, traits that are specific to each cultivar. One specimen the Walkers prize is Acer palmatum ‘Sango-kaku,’ or the coral bark maple, so named for the bright red twigs that emerge once the tree sheds its leaves each fall. Another favorite is Acer palmatum ‘Koto no ito,’ the Japanese word for harp strings. This 14-foot tree produces long, elegant leaves that change from green to shades of orange and gold in autumn. The Walkers often pair such contrasting shapes and colors to add visual interest.

“I got the idea that Japanese maples were slow growers, but not for us,” says Jody. “They are a hardy tree and do better here than further south.” Some even grew bigger than listed in his guide. The species thrives thanks to our area’s rich, loamy soil and mild winters. 

You’ll find Japanese maples are fairly low maintenance. They prefer dappled sunlight, and consistent watering is key, but they don’t need much fertilization. Walker says the trees they keep in pots receive some Osmocote (a type of plant food). But once planted, he relies on Imidacloprid, a widely used insecticide. Bayer Advanced makes a 12-month tree and shrub feed which he pours around the base of each plant annually to keep aphids, borers, and other pests at bay. The judge initially balked at its expense until Danna nudged him gently, saying, “I guess you’ll have to decide which tree lives and which tree dies.” So, he says, “I got off my wallet and we bought enough to dose them all.”

A Garden Takes Shape

The yard originally had common foundation plantings of boxwood and wax leaf, but the Walkers soon removed those and began planting maples instead. Over the years, the grounds gradually transformed as they added a patio, a pergola, and a storage building to block the view of a neighboring lot.

“What we did was we enjoyed the trees and when there would be too many to water, we’d plant. There was no grand plan,” says Jody. “We simply did it segment by segment.” 

The two do all the gardening themselves, though Danna prefers to prune. “We’re looking for shape and airiness, so I cut out cross branches. But the Japanese maples also self-prune — the branches fail to leaf out and become brittle — so you simply cut out the dead growth,” she says.

In 2014, they tackled the hilly west end of the property, which opened to the back of a strip mall. The greenery — an unsightly thicket of privet, volunteer trees, kudzu, and weeds — also had an understory of trash. They handled the mess methodically, filling trash bags first, then wielding a machete and Roundup to bring down the growth. 

“The most important ingredient is persistence,” Jody notes wryly. “I am now a kudzu expert.” He reduced the vast majority of the invasive vine, which once covered the entire hillside but, “I manage the rest by keeping it in the ditch.” 

With the hillside exposed, the eye is drawn upward over a simple wooden bridge that spans a rock-strewn creek bed. Lichen-covered boulders dot the grounds, placed aesthetically between an assortment of maples as well as oak leaf hydrangeas. A paved walkway leads the visitor to the top of the hill, where a covered swing offers a quiet place for contemplation.  

This landscape reflects what the Japanese call the kare-sansui (dried-up landscape) style, in which rocks are used to suggest a winding stream or pond in a seasonally dry creek bed. The drainage basin does sometimes fill during heavy rains, so the stones help to channel the water, allowing the ground to better absorb the moisture. 

The Walkers also erected a fence along the back, providing noise reduction as well as a second entrance to the garden. The couple host two to three garden clubs annually, a tradition that began in 2012 thanks to enthusiastic word-of-mouth from horticulturalist Carol Reese at the UT-Agriculture Extension in Jackson. Danna and Jody enjoy sharing their knowledge with others. To that end, visitors receive a map and a plant list for reference should they see a cultivar they’d like to grow.

The Nature of Gardening

The patio plantings can be seen from the dining room and kitchen windows, another element of Japanese gardening that fosters a closer connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. To relax on the patio is to bask in the garden’s solitude, accented by the deep gong of wind chimes and the trickle of a nearby fountain. The ambiance is magical. 

Looking into the woods, I wonder aloud if they ever lose a tree. Jody answers that they do, on occasion. In fact, one rare green maple, a Hamami nishiki which had thrived for 15 years, quite literally died overnight. “We treated it and tried to save it, but it went quickly.” 

But then, such is the way of gardening. Just ask any grower. What the Walkers enjoy is nature’s eternal draw: “It’s that the garden changes every year,” he says. “There’s always something new to learn, always new cultivars coming out.” 

Always the promise of new life.

Tulip Fest

Beds of colorful tulips will be on display soon at The Dixon Gallery and Gardens. Director of horticulture Dale Skaggs says they planted 4,000 bulbs this year to extend the vibrant spring season and the results will be gorgeous. Remember, admission is still free.

And if you’re discovering the January cold snap took a toll on your plants, take heart: “The plant might be root-hardy and rebound, but it will take time,” says Skaggs. Hardest hit were those in the borderline-hardy category, including tea olives, Indian hawthorns, gardenias, cryptomerias, viburnums, and even some newer Encore azaleas.