Japanese Gardening

Japanese style gardening is a form of gardening that has the intention to produce a landscape in your garden that imitates and represents nature by the careful use of specimen trees and shrubs, rocks, gravel and sand, ponds and flowing water - each of these is intended to represent a greater landscape than just simply your garden. A rock in a Japanese garden might represent a range of mountains in the 'real world' that lies beyond, for example.

The second goal is to provide a garden that is perfect for meditative contemplation in a carefully organised environment, where not so much as an out of place pebble can distub your train of thoughts.

While purists will have carefully raked gravel, meticulously placed stones and rocks, and a small number of very high quality specimen trees, most 'home gardeners' will borrow ideas from the Japanese garden style without carrying it out completely.

The two styles of Japanese garden are known as tsukiyama and hiraniwa. The first represents a landscape of lakes and mountains, while the second is a flatter style without either lakes or mountains!

The main elements used in a Japanese garden are rocks, gravel, water, stones and trees. A typical Japanese garden might have a large area of carefully raked gravel, with several large, ornate rocks carefully placed. Interestingly, rocks are frequently the centre-piece of the garden rather than plants. The gravel is frequently intended to represent water. Water itself is also a common element of a Japanes garden.

Typical trees in a Japanese garden include Cypress, Cedar, Cherry, Holly and Pine. These often borrow from the Japanes bonsai techniques - trees are not left to grow in an uncontrolled and wild fashion, but are meticulously pruned, shaped and controlled so that they perfectly fit the environment.

A genuine Japanese garden can provide a uniquly tranquil setting for quiet relaxation. Perhaps less ideal if you have a small space and two young boys who like playing football!