Japanese garden: 12 secrets of authenticity
Content:
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
The Japanese style of garden design is determined by binding and unchanging principles. Knowing them, any gardener can independently create a real Japanese garden on his site. This article will explore 12 secrets of a Japanese-style garden.
How to make a Japanese garden: video
The serenity and tranquility of Japanese gardens has long fascinated gardeners from all over the world. They wonderfully combine zoning for different purposes with a variety of silhouettes, textures and materials. The harmony and showiness of the Japanese-style gardens captivate with their seeming simplicity, but in practice it turns out that the repetition of Japanese motives is not a guarantee of creating an idyllic atmosphere that distinguishes this direction of landscape design. And it's not only and not so much about the impossibility of imitating the climatic features of the islands of Japan or picking up authentic cultures. The illusion of the perfection of a Japanese garden is created primarily due to the general mood of the composition, its harmony and tranquility. After all, a Japanese garden is, first of all, a place for secluded relaxation, reflection, meditation.
Choosing a Japanese style to decorate your garden, you should understand that its narrow focus and sheer authenticity elevate exemplary motives, silhouettes and materials to the rank of immutable laws. It is useless to simply imitate the Japanese style, it cannot be imitated - it is possible only to create, taking the strictest rules for granted. Even a slight deviation from them will make it impossible to create the original atmosphere of a Japanese-style garden.
We invite you to get acquainted with the 12 secrets of the Japanese garden.
Secret number 1. Japanese garden: inspired by the harmony of nature
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
The basis of the Japanese-style garden is the natural landscape: the hills of Japan, the rounded silhouettes of trees and shrubs, the bizarre curves of branches and stems of flowers, the contours of reservoirs surrounded by mossy stones - this is what is the main source of inspiration when creating a Japanese garden. It is the symbiosis of these elements of the natural landscape that is important - how smoothly their contours flow into each other, how brightly and at the same time dominants appear harmoniously.
Secret number 2. Japanese garden involves giving up the flowering relay
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
In recent years, continuous flowering has become one of the popular and almost mandatory principles of landscaping. Indeed, in this way the garden always looks lush and full of life, despite the changing seasons. The Japanese have always been renowned for their ability to appreciate and accept any change in nature. Therefore, it is completely unnecessary and even unnatural for them to change the face of the season, imitating natural processes unusual for it. The Japanese style of the garden involves a clear separation of flowering periods and a change in the appearance of the garden depending on seasonal changes.
The peak of flowering traditionally falls in the spring - it is then that magnolia, peony and azalea flowers appear in all their splendor in Japanese gardens. The bright colors are replaced by the calm greenery of the summer period, which brings coolness on hot days. Only single floral accents like water lilies are allowed. Autumn brings with it a new splash of color: the crimson leaves of trees and shrubs emphasize the beauty of their crowns. In winter, the time comes for stones and openwork branches covered with snow - for this season, plants with expressive silhouettes and patterns of branches are selected. As you can see, there are no boring and empty seasons in the Japanese garden.
Secret # 3. Japanese Garden and Tree Domination
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
Japanese culture surrounds trees with an aura of mystery, recognizing them as part of religious beliefs. Trees are respected not only as containers of spirits or some kind of sacred objects, but also as landscape dominants. Their trunks and branches deformed under the influence of wind and bad weather perform a structure-forming function in landscape design. It is the tree that is correctly selected and placed in the garden that sets the tone for the entire composition of the site. The trees of the Japanese garden do not recognize shearing, preferring to remain natural in their harmonious imperfection. Typical woody representatives of the Japanese garden: the famous sakura, evergreen pine and maple.
Secret number 4. Bright shrubs
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
The Japanese style of the garden is distinguished by its asceticism in the choice of flowering plants and does not imply species diversity. It is recommended to give preference to 1-2 bright and showy shrubs, whose peak flowering occurs in the spring. This will brighten the garden with a series of bright spots.
Shrubs, traditional for the Japanese garden:
- rhododendrons, which are the favorites of this style direction;
- tree peonies with their large flowers;
- yellow stars forsythia;
- magnolias;
- shading and at the same time elegant irga;
- Japanese pieris;
- laurel with expressive evergreen crown;
- large inflorescences of hydrangeas;
- for vertical landscaping of small gardens, honeysuckle or wisteria are suitable.
Secret number 5. The beauty of water
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
It is the presence of water bodies in the Japanese garden that gives it its characteristic pacification and tranquility. Ponds, waterfalls, streams fill the landscape with life and delight the eye, disposed to rest and contemplation. Of course, creating an entire water system is a tempting idea, but unattainable in a limited space. Meanwhile, for small areas there are planning solutions that include a reservoir. In addition to very small ponds, it is possible to use mobile reservoirs and indoor fountains. Stone containers for ritual washing of hands (tsukubai), filled with water and decorated with vegetation, will also look beautiful. Another way to bring water into your garden is to simulate water bodies using pebble or sandy areas. The surface of such sites is processed with a rake so that sand or pebbles lay in wavy lines repeating patterns on the water surface.
Secret number 6. Green moss lawns
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
The green lawns of the Japanese garden are fundamentally different from the regular style lawns. For the Japanese, it is important to emphasize the smooth flow of some forms into others, the stones should not clearly protrude from the ground. Moss or other traditional ground cover plants such as Waldsteinia, Periwinkle or Acene are used to smooth out the contours. To enhance the effect of naturalness, compositions of stones and moss are complemented by single perennials: badan, forget-me-nots, primroses, Japanese irises.
Secret number 7. Variety of stones
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
The Japanese garden is more a stone garden than a vegetable garden.Traditionally, it is believed that the ratio of stones to plants in such a garden should be 2: 1. The Japanese style is characterized by the use of only natural stone in all forms: paths are formed with flat stones, paths and decorative areas are strewn with sand and gravel, large boulders of unusual shapes become compositional centers. Basically, stones fill the entire space of a Japanese-style garden that is not occupied by plants. Moreover, each stone is filled with a certain meaning and has its own purpose: large stones symbolize mountains, flat stones denote conditional islands in the middle of sand and gravel imitation of water.
Secret # 8: Contrasting Combinations and Symbols of Forms
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
In a Japanese garden style, it is worth emphasizing the necessary symbolic meaning of each object located in a Japanese garden. Each stone, tree, flower is in its place and tells its own story. In addition, they all act as a counterbalance to each other, contrasting through a difference in color or texture.
Secret number 9. Platforms, platforms and mats
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
The main material for the paving is not stone, but warm, contrasting wood. Platforms and decks are constructed from it, marking places for meditation and tea drinking. Straw mats and mats complement the seating areas.
Secret number 10. Small architectural forms
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
The naturalness of a Japanese garden does not mean the absence of artificial decorative elements. At least one small architectural object will add authenticity and completeness to the appearance of the garden. These can be functional objects, or their imitation: stone lanterns, wooden humpbacked bridges, pagodas, teahouses, sculptural images.
Secret # 11. Bamboo
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
Another must-have in Japanese garden design is bamboo. Its use in the design of a Japanese garden in a northern climate is quite problematic, however, the presence of tubular forms of this beautiful and spectacular plant allows us to solve the problem. In addition, in the Japanese garden, bamboo is present not only in its living form, but also as a material for household items, decor, and accessories. Support posts, drain pipes, mats, fences, railings can be made from bamboo.
Secret # 12: Care and maintenance
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
The perfection of a Japanese garden, despite its closeness to nature, requires regular maintenance. Without caring for plants, stones, water bodies, the naturalness of the garden will quickly be replaced by neglect. However, the attractive atmosphere of this corner is so great that even routine work in it brings relaxation and allows you to enjoy the harmony of a Japanese garden.
Japanese garden: photo
Japanese garden: photo-design idea
