Looks like vintage "Garden Art": cast concrete used to lend an Asian feel to one's garden or patio. It definitely looks like the company that made it was inspired by Chinese-style pagodas (pagodas were also used in some Japanese landscapes, but they are made of stone and are not painted).

To work it into your garden, why not surround it (in back and on sides) with lush foliage. You mention roses -- maybe nestle it into a bed of roses. You'd have to bring it forward a bit from the fence to make space for a planting backdrop behind it, but it would be worth it in added dimension and sense of depth. Plus, having greenery behind it will soften the hard fence and the lantern's color.

Just some random ideas... :)

I recommend that you sell it to me :-) I would love to put this deep in the forest on shady mossy path to be discovered serendipitously.

Hi Paul a.k.a buuchus
Are you drinking too much ?

Your red face and red pagoda macth color hehehe.... mike

Is it stone Kristin? or is it painted concrete? Is there a date carved on it somewhere?
If you go to http://www.aisf.or.jp/~jaanus/deta/t/tourou.htm you will see something similar called sanjuu no ton tourou which means three tier tower lantern (try saying that with a mouth full of marbles ! ) Being red it is probably Chinese or from Thailand and if it is stone it could be red sandstone although it looks too hard. There is something modern about the decoration.

It's painted concrete actually. Thanks for the link & the advice!

I should clarify - I'm guessing this was made in the 50s. I'm so happy to add it to my garden!

It's definitely a 50s concrete thing. Like you say, "vintage." It's the kind of thing you can have fun with and not feel self-conscious.

In the Landscape Design forum, you got some suggestions such as going with a "hot color" scheme. You could play it to the hilt by using multi-colored and textured foliage and flowers, and add to the "Asian flair" by stringing up colorful Chinese garden lanterns... you could even wrap them around that tree.

If you want to go the more subdued, traditional route, clumping bamboo and ferns around and behind the pagoda would be nice, as would a gravel bed on which it could rest.

Kristen,

I rather like it. To my eye, it has a look of India about it. There's a similar one (though it doesn't look Indian and it's not red) in the Zen style garden at the Horticulture Centre of the Pacific in Victoria.

Seeing that it's painted, I guess there's no reason - if you ever want to change its colour - why it couldn't be painted a different colour. On the other hand though, if you wanted to expose the concrete surface, the only way - apart from leaving it exposed to the weather for years till the paint wore off - might be to have it sandblasted.

Whatever you decide to do with it, I think it will make an attractive garden accoutrement.

Click here to see the one at the HCP

I mentioned that to my eye, there's an Indian look to it. I think that impression was caused by my having seen a picture of a lantern in a public garden in Madras - though your example could well - as Jando suggests - be from China or Thailand.
Click here to see the one in Madras.

Hi,
YOU WILL NOT BELIEVE THIS!take a look at my Japanese garden at the link below you might see something you have seen before only the colour is different everything else is the same,
George.

Here is a link that might be useful: George's Japanese Garden

George -

Your web site's grown a lot since I last looked at it.

I hadn't seen your paintings before & they make me wish I had your talent (I have none whatsoever). Until I clicked on the one of Mt. Fuji I thought it was a Japanese woodblock. Looking at your Kilchurn Castle Loch Awe painting, makes me think you'd enjoy turning your hand to painting your versions of various Japanese woodblocks. (There are hundreds of these to be seen on e-Bay - and I think many of the ones of landscapes might appeal to you.)

The link that you have to William Corey's pictures of Japanese gardens is fascinating - including his description of his enormous camera & what it led him to.

And it was great to see all the (to me) new pictures of your own garden.

Herb

WOW George! Would you believe I *saved* pictures from your garden I liked them so much, and I didn't even notice that??

There was a big red cantilevered one, too, but I ran out of money ((kicking self))

One really great thing about it is that it has a nice patina on it, so I think I'll keep it red. There's some nice mossiness to it that adds to it a lot. As I've been going over in the other forum, it really does stir things up a bit in the color department but I guess I've never been all that good at serene anyway. :) As much as I'd like to live in a Hasui print I know it's not going to happen as long as I keep going to the garden center!

tropicanarama,

I don't live in a Hasui print either, but I have a big litho of one in my entry hall... a nice big RED temple in the snow (something Hasui was a master of illustrating).

Hi Herb,
Thank you for you kind comments I will have to see what I can find on ebay.
George.

Here is a link that might be useful: George's Japanese Garden

Herb

Can you ID that grass (the madras pic.)? I plan to use baffalo grass here in Mo. for the same type of application.

thanx,

paul

Paul -

Sorry I can't help you on that one! A friends' daughter took the picture when she had a 6-month job in India a couple of years ago & sent it to me because she thought I'd be interested in seeing the lantern. Perhaps somebody from India can identify it for us?

Herb

Thanx Herb

Looks just like Baffalo in growth habit.

paul