Welcome!
The Japanese Garden, located at the Muscatine Art Center, 1314 Mulberry Avenue in Muscatine, is one of our spectacular stops on the 2025 Garden Tour Fundraiser.
Laura Musser McColm in the early 1930s directed the installation of a Japanese garden within the 2.7-acre property at 1314 Mulberry Avenue, Muscatine, Iowa. Her garden was “a place to express horticultural interests, remind the owners of the travels, and provide settings for collections of sculptures and objects.” 1
A Muscatine Journal in May 1931 provides details about the garden, the setting for a meeting of the Muscatine Garden Club:
The garden, started last year, is at its full glory now, with the iris in bloom, and the flowers and shrubbery grown among the rocks to make a woodland scene. Even the bridges crossing the waterfalls and stream are representative. The stone lanterns are of Jap(anese) make. The tour of the garden was highly interesting and pictorial, in view of the study of the club.” 2
The Japanese Garden occupies an acre on the southeast side of the Musser McColm house. A rustic Torii gate marks the entrance to the upper level of the garden.
Photos: Muscatine Art Center Staff
Original landscape features and ornaments currently installed in the garden include four ponds, one stream, two waterfalls, volcanic rock in and around the pond and waterways, some original plantings and four cast concrete Japanese lanterns on cast concrete bases. 3
Footnotes:
1 Cody, Beth. The Making of a Japanese Garden in Iowa, p. 20
2 Ibid.,p. 24
3 Ibid.,p. 25
Featured Muscatine Gardens
🌎 Stanley Center For Peace & Security, 304 Iowa Avenue
🐝 Muscatine Pollinator Park, 700 South Houser Street
⛩ Japanese Garden, Muscatine Art Center, 1314 Mulberry Avenue (Refreshments and live music)
🌹 Weed Park Rose & Zoo Gardens, Park Drive
🏠 Historic West Hill Olson Private Gardens, 407 W 2nd Street (Refreshments and plein air painting demonstrations)
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