How to Use Japanese Garden Design for Your Home
A Japanese garden design is an ideal creation for anyone who appreciates meditative and tranquil settings. The peaceful quality of the garden makes it ideal for a peaceful area where one can spend solitary moments enjoying the surroundings. The Japanese garden design incorporates living plants, water and stone. The colors and sounds are muted, avoiding anything that is too vibrant, moving too fast, or loud.
Materials
- Stones
- Sand
- Pebble
- Rake
- Plants
- Sketch pad
- Pencil
- Statuary
Instructions
- Plan the site by sketching a few ideas for the garden. The plan will depend a lot on the size, view and the surrounding environment. An enclosed area with a fence and wall is necessary in order to create private space.
- Lay down colored stand to create an outline for the design. Dig up the turf and level the ground making sure you tamp it firmly. Use weed control matting to cover the entire area. Peg the overlaps and seal them carefully.
- Pour sand to cover the entire area. You can also use decorative gravel in place of sand. Smooth and level it out then place rocks singly or in groups all over the area. The rocks should be aligned to focus on a certain point in the garden. The placement of the rocks is an important component of the Japanese design and they represent different elements and experiences.
- Place the plants in specific positions, making sure the overall effect is one of harmony. There should be no plants detracting the eye from the design. Choosing the right plants requires proper research to find those that work well together. Small spaces may require the use of bonsai trees.
- Find out the blooming patterns for all the plants you use and plan the garden with plant growth rate in mind.
- Use the rake to form wavy lines in the sand, creating ripples. Water is an important and symbolic part of the Japanese garden. Install a water feature that will create a white noise sound of running water.
- Add Japanese themed elements such as bamboo plants, statues - especially of the crane, and ornamental grasses.