Last week was my last at Anderson Japanese Gardens. My eight plus years as a horticulturist there has ended.
While I learned a lot and am thankful for my time there, I am very much looking forward to my new position in the design build department of a local Nursery/Landscaping company.

I thought today would be a good opportunity to look back at the posts I have done that were influenced by my work at the garden.
This included posts that were specifically about Japanese garden concepts, pruning, and of course plants I was first exposed to at the garden.
2012 posts
Back in August of 2012, I began my blog at jimanderson.net. I wrote a lot about plants that were at the garden as well the topic of designing for Fall color, which is one thing the garden is an excellent example of.
- First step to starting your Japanese garden landscape
- Two trees with great winter bark & fall color
- Plants for Fall Color – Four principles
- Plants for fall color – Part 1 of 2
- Plants for Fall color Part 2 of 2
- Bringing nature indoors

2013 posts
In 2013, I started to get my stride a bit and started writing about things that were directly influenced by my work at the garden or areas of the garden. It was also in late September when I moved my site to yourgardensanctuary.com in order to be more descriptive of the content I was aspiring to write. Some of these are among my personal favorites.
- Japanese garden fall color lessons you can use
- Japanese garden fall color can inspire your garden design
- Aesthetic pruning goals for your garden sanctuary
- Three aesthetic pruning cuts
- Garden Structures for Four Season Interest
- Green leaf Japanese maple

2014 posts
This year started with six posts about creating a Japanese garden in a small backyard. This started with a reader questions, and lead to a 5 part series that ended with a complete Japanese style residential backyard design. A post answering another reader’s question about practical Japanese garden books for the do it yourself homeowner came later in the year.
- Japanese garden in a small yard
- Small backyard Japanese garden design (5 part series)
- Japanese Garden How to Book Suggestions

Don’t forget to take a look at my resource page on Japanese Garden Pruning which as of this writing is Google’s favorite webpage on the topic.
Just because I no longer work at a Japanese garden does not mean I will abandon it as a subject. Japanese gardens can teach us many things about creating garden spaces that help connect us with nature. I look forward to exploring those in further depth with you in the coming years.

Jim, congratulations. Sounds like a welcome step forward! Will look forward to hearing from you with your excellent landscape advice from the perspective of your new position–design/build sounds perfect!
There are times when we all have to move on to the next great thing, Jim. Congratulations on your new job, and thanks for so many great posts over the years!
Jim, I so enjoy all of your posts. Will you continue with this site?
Thanks Julie. Yes, I am continuing this site. Although I do expect to be posting less often, probably about one post every 2 or 3 weeks.
Congratulations Jim and good best of luck in your new position. I Loved todays post and am going to link it to my Garden Club’s facebook page. Have fun and take care.,
Best wishes to you in your new endeavors! Great post! Thanks for putting them all together. I have some rereading to look forward to! Your insights into Japanese garden design have been such a useful guide for me in designing my own sanctuary even though it is not in the Japanese style.