How To Include Japanese Garden Decor That Brings Asia To Your Back Door

Japanese design may seem a little understated for the flower-packed Western ideals of modern cottage gardeners. They do offer an oasis of calm and serenity though that is tough to beat. Instead of flowers, one might have different stone textures and leaf shapes to bring one’s attention into nature. Water also plays an important part in any Asian garden decor.

Water has many different expressions in an Asian garden from water fountains garden to placid gazing pools. If you are looking for a garden scheme that offers shade, privacy, mystery, and reduces your stress at the end of the day, then you might want to try to reserve at least a corner of your garden for an Asian-inspired garden room.

The defining elements of Japanese gardens are:

• Framing the view
• Interesting textures
• Water
• Asian-looking plants
• Stone or gravel

Framing The View

One thing that most people don’t understand about Japanese decor is the need to frame the views and not expose everything at once. The garden should have a little mystery to it, unlike most cottage gardens, which display everything in one fell swoop. To frame a view, you need to have a meandering garden path, separate garden rooms, and dramatic entrances that frame the view. This type of slow disclosure of the garden’s element is what gives is a meditative feeling and also delights people when they come upon the water fountains garden unexpectedly.

Interesting Asian Textures

The meandering path and water fountain gardens should both have interesting natural looking stone with weathered patinas and, if possible, moss on some of them.

These types of fine details may escape a Westerners eyes, but they are highly valued in an Asian garden decor. The materials used to create bridges, stepping-stones, fountains, or statues are all very carefully chosen with an eye towards textures as well.

Even the gravel gardens echo this fascination with texture by allowing patterns to be raked across the surface.

Water

Asian gardens love to play with the many moods of water. You can see very still pools of water, to bubbling brooks, to playful fountains all exhibited at one point or another in the garden. Water has a way of playing on our emotions and can bring a soothing rhythm to your backyard. You can add water plants to create a natural habitat and even some koi for color.

Add a bamboo water fountain to bring the Asian theme in quickly. Add a gazing pond where koi can multiply. The ponds should echo nature with smooth round edges and not angular corners. In fact, all of the Japanese garden should be scaled so that it appears to be a magnificent landscape in miniature. That means that the garden might not be all one level, but can appear to wind and curve like a hilly terrain to make it more natural looking. There are more formal gardens that are more Zen-like, which make use of flat gardens and angular pools. Consider what suits your taste more and go with that.

Asian-looking Plants

The Japanese garden is less about showy plants then a total balance of different elements in the garden. Colors are usually muted and typical plant selections might include bamboo, cherry trees, or pine trees. Of course, Japanese maples are also classic additions.

You can use grasses and other perennials, but focus on foliage texture and shade rather than color, unless you are trying to offset the bright red of the maple with other more showy plants in fall.

In ponds, it’s perfectly okay to put some lotus blossoms and other types of water garden plants to bloom. It may not be classically Japanese, but it brings a little more color to the garden when these plants bloom, which many Westerners enjoy. Don’t forget that mosses are considered very important for creating soft rounded mounds and beautiful textures.

Stone or Gravel

You’re probably thinking: What happened to the classic Japanese lantern or stone Buddha? You can opt for these types of decorative elements in a garden, but they aren’t entirely necessary. They make a great focal point for hidden gardens or as signposts for visitors that this is your Asian oasis, but you don’t have to include them, if you prefer more natural elements.

Stonework is very central to Japanese gardens, with large boulders being placed first and everything built around them. The boulders should be proportional to the garden space and they should also define the negative space in the garden. In other words, the space around the stones is just as important as the stone itself.

Asian gardens don’t simply focus on the objects within the garden, they also work with the space that surrounds all natural elements to make it inviting and intriguing. The stones themselves should have some character. They can be weathered, mossy, or have an interesting shape. They can even be a place to sit for a while, if situated well enough.

Other stone and gravel can be placed along the water areas. Larger stones sitting next to place ponds offer some interesting reflections. A pathway towards a fountain built with different colors of slate can reflect light differently throughout the day. Gravel can be large or small, depending on whether you want to play with it by raking in designs or just use it to represent a dry riverbed. Rocks should be placed so that they all don’t receive the same lighting, to make the garden more interesting throughout the day.

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