Jarvis Gardens
~ A beautiful lotus garden with koi ponds and bonsai trees ~ 

  

Viewed from the road on a mountainside in Mars Hill, North Carolina, Jack Jarvis's four-acre garden looks like a giant painting. Set in a valley on 80 rolling acres where Jarvis's ancestors farmed for more than a century, the Japanese-style garden is mostly made up of shrubs and trees chosen for their colorful foliage.

Jarvis, a farmer turned full-time landscaper, set his own garden in a former cornfield, where he carved out a waterfall and made five ponds which hold koi, lotus, iris and water lilies. Paths meander past a pagoda made from recycled American chestnut and through large swaths of shrubs and trees (mainly conifers, barberries and Japanese maples in gorgeous hues of burgundy, lime green and blue). In the center of the garden is a large bonsai collection, which contains a specimen believed to be 500 years old.

Jarvis doesn't use chemicals and has made his garden a sanctuary for wildlife. Every June he welcomes visitors to view the thousands of lotus blooms in his ponds. On most Saturdays, he can be found working in this very unusual and stunningly beautiful garden.