The Japanese Style Garden: High Country Gardens

The Japanese Style Garden

Creating a Japanese style garden is possible even in drought-prone regions.

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Topic: Garden Design
Author: Cindy Bellinger
Keywords: Japanese, solace, small space, serene, Garden Design, gardens
Date: October 2002

In the garden pool,
dark and still, a steppingstone
releases the moon
by O. Mabson Southard

Just the idea of a Japanese garden often brings a sense of solace. These distinctive gardens easily invite us to step out of the fray into a more soothing environment. The earliest reference to a Japanese garden dates back to 74 AD, when someone noted an emperor gazing into his koi pond. After this several different eras of Japanese gardens arose, each bringing a new characteristic that we now associate with this type of garden.

Like a well composed painting three elements consciously interplay within these gardens—the foreground, mid-ground and background. Though the intent is to make them appear natural and unstructured, the underlying core is a carefully considered framework.

Masses of plants and rocks arranged on different levels of contours and slopes make up the overall structure. Then textures of open/closed spaces, smooth/rough surfaces and light/dark areas all flow together. The goal is to produce a quality of movement; even large leafed plants mingling with finer leafed ones gives the impression of a slow, subtle dance.

When constructing a Japanese garden, the main considerations are how it will be approached, how it be seen. The garden relies on a series of unfolding views with the essence making them interesting to the eye, whether the garden is of raked sand and sparse or of dense foilage.

Designers usually follow three basic principles: reduction in scale, symbolism, and “borrowed views.” The miniaturization of mountains and rivers brings these features together in a confined area. An example of symbolism is using black stones to suggest a river. “Borrowed views” refer to the use of natural backgrounds outside and beyond the garden, such as a mountain or the ocean, which then become an integral part of the scenic composition.

The Japanese garden can be classified into two general types: the “tsukiyama” is composed of hills and ponds, and “hiraniwa” is a flat garden. Either type uses asymmetrical arrangements with a variety of structures such as:

Paths, either straight or curved, of brick or steppingstones
Stone ornaments and pagodas
Lanterns
Bamboo trellises
Edgings, railings, gates and pavilions
Pools, ponds, streams and stone water basins

During the 1800s, when Europeans took on the pastime of creating gardens, botanists began hunting worldwide for unknown plant species. Then after Admiral Matthew C. Perry opened Japan to western trade in 1854, the country became an important source of plants as well as a new type of garden. Today, Japan has 6,000 native trees, and 90 United States genera have analogous species in Japan.

Though the types of plants found in the Japanese garden are endless, tradition calls for monochrome. It’s believed to encourage more reflection. Masses of color can be overwhelming and distracting. Rare are the wide areas of profuse bloom that westerners like in our meadow and cottage gardens.

Creating a serene Japanese garden is easily done, even in the dryer western regions. The basic guidelines are simple and the resulting landscape stops short only at one’s imagination. Below is a list of xeric plants easily adapted to the Japanese style garden.