Get the Look: Japanese-Inspired Garden Style
A traditional art form offers lessons in creating a space for quiet contemplation
Lauren Dunec Hoang
21 December 2016
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and in-house designer for Sunset's Editorial Test Garden. Her garden designs have been featured in the Sunset Western Garden Book of Landscaping, Sunset Western Garden Book of Easy-Care Plantings (cover), Inhabitat, and POPSUGAR.
Houzz Editor; landscape designer and former garden editor for Sunset Magazine and... More
Many people are drawn to the minimalistic beauty and unmistakable feeling of calm in Japanese gardens. Drawing from centuries of tradition, a stunning natural landscape and a culture rich in ceremony, authentic Japanese gardens can be very difficult to re-create outside of the culture. Instead, look for inspiration from the design principles of balance and restraint and from some of the traditional elements of Japanese gardens.
Softscape
Much as a Japanese brush painting captures the essence of a landscape scene in a few brushstrokes, Japanese gardens emulate the natural world in a stylized way. Inspiration for plant choices, color and form comes from the country’s native forests, lush streambeds and towering mountains. Dark stones, bright and deep greens, and earthy browns and sandy tones are the most common colors, but many gardens also have one or two accents of red or other vivid hues. Further imitating the natural landscape, traditional Japanese gardens often include a subtle change in topography, such as mounds to symbolize hills, or depressions for valleys.
Much as a Japanese brush painting captures the essence of a landscape scene in a few brushstrokes, Japanese gardens emulate the natural world in a stylized way. Inspiration for plant choices, color and form comes from the country’s native forests, lush streambeds and towering mountains. Dark stones, bright and deep greens, and earthy browns and sandy tones are the most common colors, but many gardens also have one or two accents of red or other vivid hues. Further imitating the natural landscape, traditional Japanese gardens often include a subtle change in topography, such as mounds to symbolize hills, or depressions for valleys.
Hardscape
Most Japanese gardens make use of naturalistic building materials like large steppingstones, bamboo, hardwoods, gravel and sand. Contemporary landscapes may combine the traditional materials with more modern ones like concrete and concrete aggregate.
Pathways, courtyards, planting beds and other garden elements are laid out to promote balance in the landscape. Unlike classical European gardens that favor symmetry, Japanese gardens often achieve balance through asymmetry. For example, if a large boulder is placed on one side of a pathway, a tree is often placed on the other to promote balance of form.
Most Japanese gardens make use of naturalistic building materials like large steppingstones, bamboo, hardwoods, gravel and sand. Contemporary landscapes may combine the traditional materials with more modern ones like concrete and concrete aggregate.
Pathways, courtyards, planting beds and other garden elements are laid out to promote balance in the landscape. Unlike classical European gardens that favor symmetry, Japanese gardens often achieve balance through asymmetry. For example, if a large boulder is placed on one side of a pathway, a tree is often placed on the other to promote balance of form.
Garden Elements
Teahouses. Traditionally, a Japanese teahouse surrounded by a naturalistic garden is a sacred space for conducting a tea ceremony. Although the ceremony itself may not be a part of your tradition, most of us can relate to the appeal of an outdoor room designated for peace, calm and reflection.
Teahouses. Traditionally, a Japanese teahouse surrounded by a naturalistic garden is a sacred space for conducting a tea ceremony. Although the ceremony itself may not be a part of your tradition, most of us can relate to the appeal of an outdoor room designated for peace, calm and reflection.
Water basins. Wash basins are important elements in teahouse gardens and are traditionally used by guests to cleanse themselves before entering the teahouse. A proper wash basin is surrounded by a careful arrangement of stones representing different elements. Basins with or without the traditional stones can be beautiful in their own right and act as a tranquil water feature in the garden. Adding a simple water basin to your garden can be one of the easiest ways to introduce a feeling of calm.
A Beginner’s Guide to the Japanese Tea Garden
A Beginner’s Guide to the Japanese Tea Garden
A representation of water. A sacred element across cultures, water — and the illusion of it — is celebrated in Japanese gardens and can have soothing effect in a landscape design. To get the look in your own backyard, dig a shallow depression to act as a dry streambed and fill with dark gravel. Nestle rounded fieldstones along the banks and fill in with ferns and tufts of sweet flag (Acorus gramineus).
A representation of a mountain. Japanese gardens often have one or more large stones or boulders representing mountains in the landscape and anchoring the design. Boulders look more natural — and more like miniature mountains — when they are partially buried and have plants nestled around the base, or small shrubs placed nearby to relate to the size and scale of the stone.
Walkways designed to encourage contemplation. Many Japanese gardens have paths that meander through the space, crisscrossing streambeds — symbolic or real — and designed to guide a visitor on a meditative walk. To get the same effect on a smaller scale, incorporate a walkway made up of steppingstones. The stones will slow your path through the garden and encourage you to be present in the journey.
Rock gardens or Zen gardens. Originally designed as meditation gardens, dry landscapes made up of a composition of rocks, moss and small trees are also common elements of Japanese gardens. The pale sand or fine gravel spread to cover the ground represents water and is often raked into ripples. Even on a small scale in a home garden, these stylized landscapes can be very peaceful to gaze upon.
Plant Types
Japanese maples. The graceful branch forms and delicate leaves of Acer palmatum have long been cherished by Japanese gardeners. The trees stay relatively small — 15 to 25 feet, smaller with pruning —making them beautiful additions to smaller backyards or courtyard gardens. Choose from varieties with leaf colors ranging from chartreuse to plum.
11 Japanese Maples for Breathtaking Color and Form
Japanese maples. The graceful branch forms and delicate leaves of Acer palmatum have long been cherished by Japanese gardeners. The trees stay relatively small — 15 to 25 feet, smaller with pruning —making them beautiful additions to smaller backyards or courtyard gardens. Choose from varieties with leaf colors ranging from chartreuse to plum.
11 Japanese Maples for Breathtaking Color and Form
Moss gardens. Areas blanketed with verdant moss and studded with ferns and stones are another element of traditional Japanese gardens. Some moss gardens in Japan have been in cultivation for hundreds of years. Moss thrives only in consistently moist, temperate conditions with not too much sun but also not in deep shade. Finicky as it is to grow, most home gardeners would be advised to create the same effect with a moss look-a-like such as baby’s tears (Soleirolia soleirolii).
The Joy of Moss and Its Modern Uses
The Joy of Moss and Its Modern Uses
Spring gardens. Traditionally associated with birth and renewal, spring is particularly revered in Japanese gardens. Most include plants like flowering cherries, chosen for their spring blossoms, as well as plants with bright, vivid green leaves that feel fresh and springlike for much of their growing season.
7 Spectacular and Practical Spring-Flowering Trees
7 Spectacular and Practical Spring-Flowering Trees
Fall color. Japanese gardens also embrace seasonal change from summer to winter by including trees and shrubs that put on a fall show. To get the look, choose one stunning Japanese maple, such as Acer palmatum ‘Osakazuki’, which turns crimson in autumn, or plant a grove of brilliant gold ginkgo trees (Ginkgo biloba). Tip: To avoid cleaning up messy fruit drop, select a male ginkgo at the nursery.
Garden Accessories
Lanterns. Traditional Japanese lanterns either hang from the eaves of a home or temple, or rest on a pedestal on the ground. Lanterns on the ground are more common, often not lit but rather used as garden sculptures or focal points.
Lanterns. Traditional Japanese lanterns either hang from the eaves of a home or temple, or rest on a pedestal on the ground. Lanterns on the ground are more common, often not lit but rather used as garden sculptures or focal points.
Fire elements. Although not especially common in traditional Japanese gardens, outdoor fire elements can also be in keeping with more contemporary designs. To incorporate a fire element into a Japanese-inspired garden, look for simple designs with clean lines, such as this gas-powered fire element inspired by a pair of Japanese fans.
More
A Beginner’s Guide to the Japanese Tea Garden
See more inspiring gardens
More
A Beginner’s Guide to the Japanese Tea Garden
See more inspiring gardens
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Superb Garden style Very impress.
Beautiful. Will consider it for my next home, it will be a smaller home with a smaller yard space. Thank you for the ideas.
I love the peaceful style. Some suggestions for northern climes. Acer Palmatum won't do in zone 4. I'm on my last attempt to get a Minnesota strain redbud to survive. If that doesn't work, I'll go with a native pagoda dogwood. All are sculptural small trees. For fall color, gingko is hardy. You might also consider white birch, although it could grow taller.