10 Things To Understand When Creating A Japanese Garden

1) Study and KNOW your subject – read books, search online. Ask experts, become very familiar with what you want to achieve in your garden or yard AND where you wish to locate it.

2) Find an area for your garden and MAP it out.- Use pencil sketches of either the design or the layout and a good idea is to try and do it to scale. I use 1 inch ( 1.5cm) to one feet of garden. It works and makes things easy to plan and place in your mind and on paper.

Pick A Style With Or Without Water

3) Pick a theme or type of Japanese garden - are you keen on a Zen garden, or a garden that you can sit in or stroll around? Do you want to build a ‘hillside garden’ or a ‘Tea’ garden? Be clear on what style you want. Focus and a clear idea is needed.

4) Do you want a water feature – ponds are great but have to be built correctly AND look natural. Nature does not have perfectcly rectangular ponds!. Once done you will need to leave the water to settle for a couple of weeks and check the waters ‘PH’ rating before adding plants and fish. A good pump is a must too. Try not to put a pond in too shady and area and under trees ( think of the leave in autumn and your poor pump!).

Quickly Decide On What You Want

5) Decide on the types of plants that you would like to put into your garden - and place them on your drawing in the spots that you feel they will look best in. You can use small or latge trees, bamboo and plants and shrubs that suit your climate.

6) What about the elements that are involved when making a Japanese garden? Stone or Suseiki , Rocks, Trees, water,plant choices, pathways, stepping stones, bridges, dry water, ornaments etc.

7) Plants and Trees- decide on varieties – Maples, Azeleas, bamboo, cherry blossom, camelia’s, moss, Iris etc

Seasonal Ingredients And Landscaping

8) Bear the ‘seasons’ in mind – when you plan your garden imagine how they will look in the changing seasons in relation to their placement in your garden. Japanese gardens should reflect ALL 4 seasons and you need to pick elements that reflect that.

9) Landscape correctly - to make the planting of plants and trees much easier. Lay them out in your garden in their pots and then once you are used to how they look, sink the pots into larger holes and see how they appear again before finally planting them. This gives you ample opportunity to see how they look in your garden and you can move them easily. You can do exactly the same with stones and rocks so you get their position ABSOLUTELY correct.

And FINALLY…..

10) Seriously consider stonework -It really does look stunning – Pagoda’s, lanterns, stepping stones, water basins, gravel ( for paths and plant surround) , Bamboo fencing, Screening etc.

• Making a Japanese garden will be so much fun – you use your artistic skill, knowledge and instinct to create that perfect outdoor space.

• If you think that you are limited for time or perhaps only have a small budget then good news! Help is at hand in THE JAPANESE GARDEN CLUB - quite simply the best tool to help you have your own Japanese garden at home and ALL the benefits that they bring!

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