Designing my water garden in a Japanese style
I am interested in designing my garden in a Japanese style and I was wondering what plants you would recommend I use in order to give it a Japanese feel? Also, although I have some idea of what traditional Japanese garden features are, which are the most popular and where can I get hold of them?
Beth Summers, Bath
Answer:
You would be amazed at how many of the plant we use come from Japan and despite the fact that the Japanese are very conservative within their style as to what plants they will use, any Japanese plants will add to the atmosphere.
Traditionally, the most important plants are the plants that mark the seasons, particularly spring and autumn. For spring there are the cherries and the azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias. If you have a small garden go for the small growing varieties that stay neat and hummocky. If you have a soil with a high pH that cannot support theses acid loving plants, the leaf and shape of the plants can be capture with pruned Box and Privet. In autumn you have the Acers, the Japanese maples with their stunning leaf colours. Other shrubs can include Pieris, bamboos of course, Osmanthus, berberis thunbergia and Euonymus elatus. Forget the lawn, use moss dotted with ferns of all kinds.
In water use iris kaempferi (Japanese Iris), Sagittaria trifolia (Kuwai) and any horticultural forms of Water Lily. On the poolside: Astilbes, Acorus gramineus, Equisetum (Horsetail reed), Iris laevigata, Ligularia, Petasites japonicus and Primula to name a selection.
As for ornaments, many garden centres that deal with hard landscaping materials carry a selection. The most popular in this country in stone are the lanterns, but the water spouts and deer scarers in bamboo are very popular water features. Every object has its symbolic significance and perhaps the most important of these is the container of water like the Bachi at which you must cleanse yourself before entering the teahouse. My favourites are the forms of crossing water, lthe zigzag bridges or the stepping-stones over which bad spirits cannot follow you.
For really knowledgeable expertise and help contact the Japanese Garden Society, c/o Mrs Kira Dalton, Groves Mill, Shakers Lane, Long Itchington, Warwickshire.