The Sunken Garden was designed as a water garden — and the lagoon at its center is still its defining feature. Connected to Lake Carasaljo by a bridge also designed by Bruce Price (restored in 1999), the lagoon supplies water to the Apollo Fountain in the Italian Garden and supports a quiet planting of water lilies.
The 17th-century marble fountain that anchors the esplanade came from a garden in southern France and is turned on for special occasions. Flanking the fountain’s brick terrace are the twin marble staircases — grand, lion-guarded descents that lead down to the lagoon level. The carved marble benches that line the garden are copies of benches found in the Vatican Garden.
Moss Cypress (Chamaecyparis pisifera) is the dominant tree in this garden. Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) lines the bridge at the lagoon’s southern end, putting on one of the arboretum’s most beautiful spring displays when it blooms alongside the nearby crabapples.
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