Submitted photo
Bill and Pati Fishback have a Japanese tea garden in the backyard of their Atwater home. The focal point is a 7,000-gallon koi pond with two-tier waterfall and center island. A bamboo bridge leads from the grassy viewing area to the center island, which has a pear tree, assorted plants, granite lantern, river rock and gravel.
Fifty years ago, Sylvia Owens bought a hand-carved stone lantern in Japan hoping one day to have an Asian-style garden.
Today, that lantern sits on a piece of flat granite in a small pond in Owens' Fresno backyard. The pond, with a two-tier waterfall, carp and water lilies, is the centerpiece of a Japanese garden designed in 1964 when Owens and her former husband, Ken, moved into the home. A bamboo garden, boxwood, azalea, iris, Japanese maple, giant Sequoia, sycamore, citrus, persimmon and black pine are part of the landscape; there also are 10 tons of rock from the Sierra foothills, including a pebbled beach at the pond's edge.
