10 Ideas to Borrow From Japanese-Inspired Gardens – Gardenista

It’s no coincidence if Japanese gardens remind you of those scene-in-a-shoebox dioramas you made in grade school.

A Japanese garden is a miniature world full of abstract shapes–rocks, gravel, and cloud-pruned plants–designed to represent the larger landscape of nature. And Nature. For centuries, Zen Buddhist monks and other Japanese landscaping designers have been trying to provoke deep thoughts, with design elements such as raked gravel paths and moss checkerboards and tiny bonsai trees trained to look permanently windswept.

A Deep Question: How do you channel all those centuries of serenity to add a bit of Zen to your garden?

The Answer: Steal one or more of our favorite 10 garden ideas from Japan:

Featured photograph by Ye Rin Mok, for Creative Spaces, from LA Noir: Architect Takashi Yanai’s Humble-Chic Bungalow.

Japanese Maple Trees

Plant a lacy Japanese maple. There are hundreds of different varieties of Acer palmatum, the maple tree native to Japan. With gracefully articulated leaves and diminutive stature (most don’t grow taller than 30 feet), Japanese maples tuck themselves easily into nearly any size garden. Varieties with multi-branched trunks have a sculptural quality and become a natural focal point in the garden.

For more ideas, see Japanese Maples: A Field Guide to Planting, Care & Design.

Landscape Rocks

Use rocks as a design element. In Japanese gardens, the pleasing shapes of large rocks and craggy boulders are reminders of the larger natural landscape that surrounds us. Depending on the size and shape, a rock also can serve as a functional element–as seating or a table–in the garden.