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Schnormeier Asian Gardens

   Schnormeier Asian Gardens in Gambier, Ohio, near ColumbusOn a beautiful sunny day in early September ,2020, Anne Ying Pu, editor of the Erie Chinese Journal, interviewed the owner and creator of Schnormeier Asian Gardens. He greeted her with a friendly “hello” and led her past metal Chinese warrior statues into his magnificently spacious home. Mr. Schnormeier is an 85 year old recent widower, who lives and works there by himself. Inspired imagination, hard work, and immense capital investment have created this paradise in loving cooperation with his now deceased wife. The couple also traveled to over one hundred countries during their married lifetime , where they gathered inspiration and connections for needed building materials.
   Ted and his wife Ann, with their two children, David and Kimberly, moved from Iowa to Knox County, Ohio, in the summer of 1966, where they purchased their current home and 3 acres of land at 8542 Layman Road, directly across the street, what was to become the spectacular Japanese style Asian Garden on 55 acres of meticulously manicured grounds. An immediate focal point through the gate is the largest lake dotted with water lilies and stocked with large colorful coy, which create a whirlwind of orange and white at feeding time late afternoon.

   Once free in retirement and from child rearing, the Schnormeier couple began designing and building the gardens in 1996 to include well maintained lawns, ten lakes, a variety of focal point garden areas with pagodas, rock displays, bright orange bridges and seven waterfalls. Husband and wife also singlehandedly built a meandering stone wall that winds through the property as is customary in New England. But the focal point has to be their Frank Lloyd Wright Falling Water inspired home. It is a beauty of hand-selected materials and furnishings from all over the world, designed entirely by husband and wife according to their creative thinking and liking.
   The art in the gardens, consisting of monumental boulders and rocks, unique trees, metal sculptures, pagodas and ground covers, was acquired over a period of 10 years, starting in 1995. It is intended to play a secondary role to the gardens themselves as jewels and focal points of interest. Scattered throughout the grounds we saw metallic deer, blue herons, wolves, and other wildlife, now distinct, all blending into the landscape, even one immense buddha. The grounds meander through ravines, across brooks, past waterfalls through a jungle of trees, a hedge of bamboo, even a buckeye, native to Ohio. It’s so peaceful and serene.
   Mr. Schnormeier has established a foundation to manage this Asian inspired Garden after his death, a gift to the people of Ohio and other visitors, all free of charge. But, as one Open House has already revealed, the popularity of this unique attraction, cannot handle uncontrolled crowds. The grounds will be open to the public during the month of June by on-line appointment only, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., in small groups to the gardens only, not his private home.

Submitted by Christa Acker