Gardening Design Easy As One, Two, Three!

Garden design defined- Many people wonder what garden design exactly entails. Well, its actually a very straight forward concept consisting out of an artful process which in turn comprises of design, creation and planning precise layout of not only garden plants but also as the landscape areas self. The owner of the garden or a professional such as a landscaper can undertake a garden design project, depending on the expertise required. Even if you decide on a professional, it's important to remember that his or her level of experience and expertise will vary from individual to individual.

Education- Most garden designers have been trained in both design and horticulture, with advanced know-how and experience on plants and their use. A Landscape Architect can also be considered part of a professional garden designer team, with formal training in the form of a degree, which includes state licensing.

Will only a pro succeed? -Its not only pro's that succeed in garden design. Amateur gardeners also have the to potential to gain immense levels of experience, expertise and know-how from working in their own gardens. Wanna-be designers can also get necessary knowledge from either part-time or full-time study in the form of a University or College Degree in Gardening. Gardening or garden design organisations or clubs are also a very popular choice for individuals who want to learn more about gardening. These clubs include The Gardeners of America, National Garden Club or American Horticultural Society.

Increased interest in garden design- The popularity of garden design has boomed substantially in resent years specifically during the last century, not only as a mere hobby for gardening fanatics, but also as an addition to professional garden designers' portfolio's.

Basic principles of design- It doesn't matter whether you are a garden designer by profession or an amateur trying your hand at something new, the basic principles of design will always remain the same if you want to ensure design effectiveness, resulting in a garden meeting the needs, goals and desires of the owner or user of the garden.

Elements of design- Essential garden design elements include, solid landscape layout such as paths, walls, water features, seating and decking; plant layout, with proper consideration to every plants individual requirements, the season, lifespan, habit in terms of growth including size and speed and lastly the combi of other plants and landscape characteristics.

Regular maintenance considerations- Regular maintenance considerations are also very important, this includes the time and costs spent to ensure the garden is properly maintained. This will have a direct impact on your plant choices, as special consideration needs to be taking in terms of plant growth speed, seeding, whether plants are annual, bi-annual or perennial, bloom-time and actual bloom duration, and numerous other factors.

Other considerations of importance- Of all the design considerations garden use is definitely regarded as the most important, desired style follows very close behind, and lastly the way the garden is intended to blend with your home or surrounding areas. Unfortunately, mentioned considerations are subject to two problems, namely budget and time limitations. Budget limitations are beaten chop-chop by a simple, basic garden design style with few and quick growing plants, inexpensive materials for landscaping and seeding instead sodding. Apart from this, garden owners can decide to design their gardens' over an extended period, in sections, with primary focus on each individual section instead of manage all at once.

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DIY Garden Design - How to Plan a Thriving Vegetable Garden

Do-it-yourself (or DIY) garden design seems like a daunting task, but that's not really the case. It is relatively easy to plan a healthy vegetable garden yourself. Here are some tips for the budding garden designer:

Use the tools that you're familiar with. There are a lot of new computer tools you can use for do-it-yourself garden design. While using these tools has its benefits, only stick to the tools that you know. If you prefer to design your garden on graphing paper with a pencil, go with that. By using design tools that you know, you're lowering the learning curve and you spend more time actually designing your garden instead of learning how to use a new tool.

Know your priorities. When designing your own garden landscape, it's important to know your priorities. What do you value the most: accessibility, plant health, aesthetics, conserving water, or variety? List your priorities in order. This list will guide you when you need to make tough decisions, such as choosing between the fruits and vegetables you eat the most or the ones that are the most pleasing to the eye.

Plan in terms of zones. In permaculture, they have a concept known as "growing zones" which allow you to design proper plant placement in your garden. Zone 1, or the zone within a few feet of your doorstep, should be the place for the plants you need to visit everyday - whether it's because they need more maintenance or you use them a lot in your home. Zone 2 is for plants that also need a lot of attention, but not as much as those in Zone 1. These may include fruit-bearing trees, trellises, and vegetables that you don't need to harvest regularly.

Think outside the "box". Stop thinking of vegetable plots and garden sections as squares or rectangles. Although these shapes are more practical to plan and easy for the beginner, there are other types of shapes that give you the most workable gardening area. For example, a "keyhole" plot is a circular patch with a narrow path going into the center, which is vacant. That narrow path and vacant center is enough for you to tend to the plants and harvest their fruit. At the same time, you're conserving surface area since you don't need a longer walkable path to reach the plants.

By using familiar tools, knowing your priorities, and being creative, you can come up with a good DIY garden design that you'll be proud of. Hopefully, it will also provide you with healthy, delicious produce for several years.

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A Water Garden Design Starts With A Hole In The Ground

Designing a water garden is fun and easy, it can be created by a person or by a professional landscaping company. A water garden design should factor in the space allowed, the plants desired, and the climate of the area the garden will grow in.

Digging A Hole

Making a water garden in one's back yard begins by digging a hole in the ground. When planning the dig, gradually slope the sides to allow different plants optimal growing conditions. Some water plants flourish in deeper water and others are suited for shallower water.

Some water garden designs will begin with a shelf for plants that enjoy one foot of water or less and from that point the pond will slope to around eighteen inches and the deepest point over twenty-four inches deep. This will allow for a variety of plants to be grown in one water garden.

Choosing Pots

A water garden design should be planned similarly to a container garden because that is essentially what a water garden is. One difference is the type of pots needed for water gardens, water garden plants will do best if they are fabric pots which allow the water to flow freely around the soil and the roots.

Also even the smallest water plants will need a pot at least ten inches wide to allow the water plants room to grow. Water garden designs should figure places for pots to be placed to allow the particular plant the most sun, water depth, and soil that it needs to be healthy and thrive. Some plants will need the long "window box" type of plastic planters to allow the plant room to grow.

If fabric pots are unavailable or undesired plastic pots will also work well for water garden designs. The pots can be placed on cinderblocks while young to encourage them to grow faster and lowered slowly as the plant matures.

Choosing The Types Of Plants

There are too many beautiful water plants to talk about each in detail; however there are some general buying guidelines to follow when selecting appropriate plants for the region in which one lives. The United States is divided into ten climate zones; these zones are based on the date which there is no longer a risk of frost for that year.

Water plants labeled tropical will only do well in extremely hot conditions; they prefer the very edge of Florida, Texas, and southern California. Most other areas even in the south will not have consistent favorable temperatures for enough of the growing season.

Plants labeled hardy will grow in most areas of the United States except for extreme climates such as Alaska and a few other pockets of the country. Hardy plants are ideal for most peoples water garden designs as there is a large variety of plants that can suit anyone's taste.

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How to Create a Zen Garden

When you hear the term "Zen Garden" the picture conjured up is of a dry landscape with rocks surrounded by carefully raked gravel which invites you to withdraw from the noise of the world outside and to enter into silent meditation. Some say that zen priests adopted the dry landscape style in the eleventh century as an aid to create a deeper understanding of the zen concepts, but others hold that the Japanese Zen Garden is a myth. They claim that it is a late 20th Century western creation that has nothing to do with the Japanese Garden Tradition and that the dry garden style is not unique to zen temples but can be found associated with many other buildings.

Whatever your view it is undeniable that there is something rather special about this dry landscape style which is generally known as a Zen garden. The main elements consist of rocks representing mountains or islands surrounded by flowing water in the form of sand or gravel.

Recently scientists used computer analysis to study one of the most famous Zen gardens in the world, at the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, to discover why it has a calming effect on the hundreds of thousands of visitors who come every year. The researchers found that the seemingly random collection of rocks and moss on this simple gravel rectangle, when viewed from the right position, created the image of a tree in the subconscious mind.

Not all Zen gardens are restricted to dry stones and gravel, but often include plants and mosses as well as shrine lanterns, bridges and water features. A Zen garden should be equally attractive and inviting throughout the year, which is why evergreens play such an important role in their design. Black pines and bamboo, moss and other evergreen ground covers provide seasonal continuity which is always green and alive.

Construction of a Zen garden starts with the selection of suitable rocks. It is important that you find rocks in shapes that appeal to you since these will form the backbone of the design. It may take some time for you to find the right stones and gravels to blend together to form a harmonious picture, but taking time and making careful
choices is an important part of transforming simple gardening into an act of "meditation".

Zen gardening
means that design, construction, planting and cultivation
is all part of the garden itself. A Zen garden is a continuing process in which the creation and maintenance of the design is as much a part of the meditation as contemplation of the completed garden.

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How Small Garden Designs Can Help You Feel Better About Your Home

Gardens are lovely and good for the soul. They can become our private sanctuaries away from the day to day grind and stresses in the world or they can simply be a place to have a grand time. Some people simply enjoying sitting in their garden while others love to plant seeds and watch flowers and bushes grow. No matter what your garden is used for, chances are you love having one and appreciate what it offers you. A great looking garden that is designed well is a wonderful investment because it adds value to your property and makes it much more desirable on the open market if you were to sell.



Often times it is very difficult to design your garden because it is hard to find good ideas. You may very well know of some small garden designs that you like but you may find it a challenge to know where to begin. You do not have to make drastic changes to your garden in order to improve it, as small changes and innovative use of focal points can make all the difference in the world. One thing that may interest you is to have a fountain installed. Fountains can make the perfect focal point in the middle of a rock or flower garden and they also provide birds with a natural bathing and drinking source. A fountain can be as elaborate or as simple as you desire. For the small garden, building a small environment in one corner that consists of a sloping hill made of stone with a fountain toward the top, can provide a lovely little oasis of your very own.



Small garden designs can also be things as simple as planting your flowers in rows, according to colour and type. Once grown, you will have created a very dramatic effect of contrasting colours. Use your creativity and plant the flowers following the contours of your flower bed for a more integrated look. Be sure to plant flowers that have similar lifespans so that all of the flowers last equally as long. You could add a few portable solar powered lamps that sit on spikes. You need to only push the lamps into the ground. In the evenings the warm glowing lights illuminating the flowers and plants will offer a very welcoming and serene feeling.



One of the most popular types of small garden designs involves putting a small wooden corner deck into one of the corners of your garden. You can choose one with a railing or without and by adding a table and a couple of chairs, you have created a nice place to enjoy your morning coffee. Corner decks can be purchased as kits and it takes just an hour or two to complete the job yourself. If you have a nicely designed garden, you will feel good about your entire home, as the garden is a nature-inspired living space located just outside your door.

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The Vegetable Gardening Design

When it comes to growing your own food, it pays to plan ahead of time about how you want to set up your own garden. Poor planning can result in poor plant growth, and you may end up with no vegetables at all, or at the very most, stunted, tasteless food. Before you plant the first seed, there are several steps that you need to complete, and only by planning ahead can you make all parts of your garden work together to improve its overall vitality. Vegetable gardening design can make all the difference between a complete failure and a rousing success at harvest time.

From Blueprints to Growth

Vegetable gardening design encompasses everything from the size of the garden to how long it will take to pick the vegetables as they ripen. First, you need to decide about what size garden you are prepared to take care of, as this will decide how healthy the plants are when it finally comes time to pick them. A good rule of thumb is to grow a garden within the means of what you are willing to take care of as a smaller but well cared for garden is much more rewarding than a larger, neglected garden. As such, deciding the size of the garden is the first step of vegetable gardening design.

At the same time, you also need to decide what style of garden you wish to cultivate in vegetable gardening design. One of the more popular gardening styles is French vegetable gardening, and you will be able to grow more vegetables in the same size plot. However, there are many different types of styles to choose from, and you also need to decide what types of plants you want to grow. All of these decisions need to be taken into consideration before you plant the first seed, and once you've made the decisions, you can finally start designing vegetable gardens.

Even with all of the steps of vegetable gardening design finished, you will still need to prepare the soil for vegetation. Aeration of the soil will allow more oxygen to reach plants, and fertilizers like compost or manure can provide greatly needed nutrients for the plants to grow strong and robust.

Consider starting your own compost piles or bins if you haven't already, and you can fill them up with materials like grass clippings or excess food that you would just end up throwing away anyway. With vegetable gardening design and preparation complete, you can finally plant the seeds, and in a few months, you will have a fantastic, plentiful harvest.

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7 Tips to a Successful Garden

A beautiful garden is one of the most sort after additions to any home. A beautiful garden
takes many hours of dedication and hard work but can be achieved by not only gardening experts but beginners as well. One of the most important gardening tips for any avid gardener is to have good gardening advice. Below are some basic gardening tips to get you started on creating your dream garden.

Gardening Tip 1. Consider your plants health as well as your own. Ensure you keep yourself well hydrated whilst gardening. As most gardening is done in the sun, involves physical labour and is very engrossing, it is easy to work away for hours on end without noticing the time flying by. Keep drinking lots of fluids and make sure you are wearing adequate sun cream and a hat. Your garden will only suffer if you are in bed for a few days with dehydration or sun stroke. Remember, skin cancer is still one of the top killers so dress appropriately.

Gardening Tip 2. Design your garden before you start digging. Your time and energy is precious so don’t start digging holes and planting plants without having a garden design first. You may choose to employ a professional garden designer or you may just want to draw your desired garden on a piece of paper yourself, depending on your budget. Either way if you have a plan of what you are doing and what you want to plant where, you will save yourself many back breaking hours digging and planting unnecessarily.

Gardening Tip 3. Make a list of the tools and materials you will need. After creating your garden design, list the tools and materials that are required to create your masterpiece. You may need specialist equipment like heavy earth moving machinery that needs to be hired and booked in advance or you may wish to plant exotic plants that need to be ordered and grown specially. You don’t want to get half way through your project only to find you cannot get a piece of equipment on hire for 2 weeks. When this happens it is very frustrating and can sometimes hold up the entire job.

Gardening Tip 4. Plan your gardening activities with small tasks and regular breaks.
You will no doubt be full of enthusiasm and excitement about your new gardening project but do not over do it. Gardening is an extremely good method of exercise and is good for your health as you are outside in the sun and fresh air. Make sure you break your activities into small achievable tasks and take breaks in between those activities. This way you will not burn yourself out and your gardening will be more enjoyable.

Gardening Tip 5. Use the correct gardening tools for the job. Some gardening tools are designed for specific tasks and can save the gardener a great deal of time. If you need to purchase gardening tools you can compare prices and makes quickly and easily over the internet. If possible purchase tools with long rubber handles as they are easier on your muscles and joints as they are less prone to jarring.

Gardening Tip 6. Consider the maintenance requirements of your garden. Before creating your garden you need to decide how much time you want to spend in the future maintaining it. If you want an easy maintainable garden you should investigate ideas like weed suppression methods in your flower beds. This can be achieved by using a special mesh that allows water and moisture to permeate through but doesn’t allow plants (primarily weeds) to grow through. Bark mulch is another good method of weed suppression and gives your flower beds a professional and natural look.

Gardening Tip 7. Choose the correct plants for your gardens location. Some plants are very choosey about where they live. Some like hot weather and lots of sunshine, whilst other plants prefer a cool, shaded and moist environment. Before purchasing your garden plants do some research on whether those plants or plant types will grow in the location in which you are going to plant them. If the plant does not like where it is planted it will be stunted in height and of poor appearance and in the worst case will die. Probably not the look you are after.

Gardens can become the show piece and social gathering point of many homes and communities. No matter where you live or what type of garden plants you like with some basic planning and design you can create a wonderful garden that you and your family and friends can enjoy for many years to come. The most important thing about creating your garden is that you enjoy yourself whilst doing it.

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The Basics of Designing Gardens

Just like the ad says "Just Do It,"; this is exactly the perspective one needs in getting good at garden designs. You can always move plants around your gardens and as your ideas and taste change, your gardens can grow with you. There are some simple elements of garden design. Think of designing your garden with living art in mind being creative and free to try whatever suits your taste. There are no limitations to the creativity that is within, no comparison or fear of failure. Although gardening successfully requires learning certain skills, when all is said and done a garden's beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. Just go for it and let your gardens be the expression of you.

Garden design and its principles used may be called by different names. There are three basic concepts when combined together will bring about good garden design. Ultimately your gardens' design is up to you and should reflect your own personality and flare.

Order, balance and proportion are the basic structure of the garden. Order is symmetrical through repeating plants or colors. Bold or bright additions bring balance as well as adding some texture. Texture is an important ingredient. Gardens come to life with different textured plants much like the human race. All different but flowing together and being brought together through unity and harmony creating comfort and peace. When all of the parts of the garden are flowing together it is captivating and ones' spirit is caught up in the beauty.

Using a limited color pattern, repetition of plants and a clear focal point creates this environment. Theme gardens are very soothing: all one color, butterfly gardens or cross gardens keep you flowing in like unity. You'll also hear a lot of talk about starting your garden with good bones. That basically means creating an outlining foundation, with trees, structures, paths, etc. for the rest of the garden to build off of. Evergreen is a favorite of the good bones.

Having a focal point is a big benefit for every garden. With no focal point the eye starts to wander here and there without every getting a grasp of a main feature. This is not creating the harmony you desire for your gardens or creating any curb appeal.

Beginning gardeners seem to pick the same flowers or foliage over and over again which has no visual interest. Planting an architectural, bold leafed plant, can restore this visual interest instead of the monotony of likeness.

Last, but not least, is adding color to your gardens. Experimenting with your favorite colors is a good way to see what works best for you. The best advice to heed though is to start out with 2-3 colors to keep the artist palette limited. You can always add new colors to your gardens by eyeballing it along the way. This way you keep the living painting flowing in the harmony you wish to relate. You will then have a peaceful retreat that you have created and enable others to share that intimate part of you.

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Hydroponics Gardening:Food Growing for All

Hydroponics gardening is great for anyone who wants to do some gardening but may not have the space or a lot of experience.

Hydroponics gardens are different from regular gardens in that there isn't any soil involved, which makes them great for indoors. The word begins with hydro for a reason! Hydroponics gardening isn't anything new, either, as it's been around since as early as 600 BC. The other wonderful thing about hydroponics gardens is that they can be grown anywhere. For example, NASA uses indoor hydroponics gardening for growing produce during lengthy missions. Lettuce is also being grown on U.S. submarines.

To get started with hydroponics gardening, you will need to germinate seeds just as you would for any other type of garden. Then you choose a growing medium. The medium can be anything from composted bark to peat moss to sand to nutrient-enriched water. You can also purchase kits that have everything you need to get your hydroponics gardening started—and growing. For the beginner, this is probably the best way to go, as you can get everything you need along with expert advice.

The benefits of gardens grown using the hydroponics gardening method are many. They allow you to grow your produce organically, without harmful pesticides or fertilizers. And since water is re-circulated in a specialized system, you also conserve water. This is great news for people who live in drought-stricken areas or in places where water is scarce. Even in these places hydroponics gardening is possible.

Hydroponics gardening is also very low-maintenance. Because the produce is grown in water, you don't have to do any digging. Even better, with these gardens, there's no weeding involved either. Plants grow faster, too. Thirty to forty days from seed to fruit or flower is average. This is 30-50% quicker than plants grown in soil.

Also, hydroponics gardening makes it possible to grow produce year-round. This means you can enjoy fresh vegetables and fruit anytime of the year without paying outrageous prices for them. Plus, since there's really no telling just how fresh the produce is in your local market, you'll never have to guess about freshness and purity again. You'll know because you grew it yourself under circumstances you control.

This is an important advantage that hydroponics gardening has over traditional gardens. When you grow plants in soil, even under the best of circumstances, you don't know for certain that your plants are truly getting the nutrients vital for them to grow. In gardens grown hydroponically, you know your plants are getting the very best nutrition right at their root system. This not only ensures the highest quality possible, but it also takes the guesswork out of your hydroponics gardening.

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Repairing your Garden Hose

With the old familiar variety of garden hoses as well as black Poly irrigation systems, there are two major problems that occur along the length of the hose or pipe, one is cracking and/or splitting of the hose/pipe and the second problem is the familiar kinking of the hose/pipe. So what can you do about it besides going out and buying a new hose or roll of poly' pipe? Well there is at least one repair method that should help with either problem. Without the cost and problems of putting expensive joiners into your watering system.

Split Hoses/Pipes

What do you do once your garden hose or irrigation pipe has developed a crack or split after your son has mowed over it or you've managed to drive over it once too often?

With either type of system, you could cut out the section of the damaged hose or pipe and put in a joiner, but sometimes this is impractical or impossible. Then why not look at repairing it instead of replacing it. Use the same method as you would for a kinked hose. Which is listed below.

Kinking Hoses/Pipes

Once a garden hose or irrigation pipe has jack-knifed back on itself at a particular spot, it will continue to do so for the life of the hose/pipe. This is because it has become weakened at that point. Again you have the option to cut out the weakened area and join the remaining parts of the hose. Or you will have to look at repairing the weakened area to stop it kinking in future, you can do this by bracing the weakened area/s by the following method . . .

What you will need to repair split/kinked hoses or irrigation pipes

An excess section of garden hose or irrigation pipe A Sharp knife or blade Container of hot water Measure and cut off a small section of hose/pipe, approximately three inches long, or as long as is needed to cover over the weakened or broken area. Cut this section down its length on one side only.

Soften the hose or pipe section in hot water. Open it up and wrap this like a bandage around the weakened section of hose/pipe.

This acts like a splint over the weak area, strengthening it so that at that point it will not kink or fountain out water anymore.

If you are repairing a split area of the hose you may have to look at sealing the hose with something like a silicon sealant. But you will find that simply putting the hose splint will greatly reduce and/or stop the leak.

The hose or pipe splint will not move off of the weakened or split area because it rehardens fairly quickly as it cools, this tightens its grip over the weak part of your hose/pipe.

Repeat this procedure for other areas that are split or are prone to kink of the garden hose or irrigation pipe that you are using.

So if that garden hose or irrigation system of yours is split in one or more places or is kinking all the time, and it is frustrating you no end, then do something other than throwing it out. Either repair it or at least keep the old hose or pipe to repair your future watering systems.

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Ten Basic Rules For Gardening

Ten basic rules for gardening

Rule #1 - Buy plants from a very reputable source--I prefer nurseries over discount stores and warehouse stores.

Rule #2 - Select plants that will grow in your climate--consider your high and low temperatures.

Rule #3 - Plant your plants in the right place in your yard--sun-loving plants in the sun, shade-loving plants in the shade.

Rule #4 - Provide your plants with complete nutrition. Most fertilizers and plant foods don't. Spray-N-Grow and Bill's Perfect Fertilizer provide major and minor elements identified by botanists as necessary for plant growth and production.

Rule #5 - Water your plants properly.

Rule #6 - Keep your plants bug free. Look for bugs on your plants as often as possible. Apply an organic and environmentally friendly bug killer if necessary.

Rule #7 - Watch for plant disease. Spray your plants with Physan 20 or Serenade if you see any wilting, black spots, etc.

Rule #8 - Weed around your plants or use All Down Organic Weed and Grass Kill or Burnout Weed and Grass Killer.

Rule #9 - Deer, rabbits, squirrels and other animals may try to feast on your plants. If you see evidence of munching, use a humane animal repellants. It may take a little detective work to figure out what type of hungry animal is invading your garden.

Rule #10 - Gardening is a physical activity--take care of yourself. Wear a hat and gloves. Use sunscreen and watch for stinging insects. Use safe products

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Landscape Garden Design

If you're thinking about some new ideas for your landscape garden design, Exterior Worlds has plenty of good ones to get you started. Just dive in and start planning.

Landscape Garden Design: Gathering Places & Focal Points

Your landscape will be more interesting and enjoyable if you consider:

• Outdoor kitchens. These structures create a focal point for your yard and, similar to the kitchen inside the home, become a natural gathering place. It is imperative that you have a good layout so that all your appliances fit and are convenient for use. Landscape designers and landscape architects will help you during the planning phase to check your deed restrictions concerning rules regulating such items as size, lot coverage percentages, height, and color materials.

• Patio design. A patio creates a transition space between the house and the yard. Depending on your preference, your patio design can run the gamut from an elegant open-air greenhouse to an outdoor living room. Patios affect the emotional and physical space of the interior by changing the view out the window.

• Landscape lighting. Expertise is essential in landscape lighting design, planning and installation. "About 50 percent of the technical work has to do with placement of the light fixtures," explains Jeff Halper, landscape garden design specialist with Exterior Worlds. "You really don't want to see the nuts and bolts of the system. You only want to see the beautiful effect created by the lights."

• Other hardscapes. You have many choices with hardscapes, the non-plant material of your yard. They include pool decking, entry walks and pathways, gates, decks and arbors, retaining walls, driveways and motor courts.

Landscape Garden Design: Themes

Many homeowners like to choose a theme for their landscape architecture. One popular choice is classical landscape design, which is a type of formal landscape design that uses linear, clean lines to develop an orderly look. These "lines" can be drawn with rows of trees and well-trimmed hedges or perhaps a seat wall made of perfectly arranged terra cotta tiles. Greenery can soften any harshness.

Another idea is an English garden design, which is noted for its informal approach to gardening and is hugely popular in the United States. Houston's semi-tropical climate is well suited for vine-covered arbors, riotous rose gardens, dazzling azaleas and beds of seasonal color-all plant materials that fit well within the English garden's impression of abundance.

If your home's architecture is a good match, think about a modern landscape design. In this style, boundaries between areas of color, textures and shapes are undefined-or conversely, sharply defined. Color and composition create the emotional response. Combining freshness and flair, these designs use dramatic geometric shapes to convey a point of view that is elegant and natural. Water and light are often used, as in beautifully-lit outdoor water fountains, to enhance the sensual loveliness and liveliness.

Don't forget a "green" green garden. That is, one that is ecologically helpful, practical and sustainable. "With a design for a green garden, the goals are similar to any other landscape project. However, we do put a special focus on reducing the Big Four of ongoing landscape maintenance: watering, trimming, weeding and mulching," says Halper.

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Chinese Gardens and Fountains Are Clues to the Mind

Classical Chinese gardens and fountains are more than collections of beautiful plants, trees and water. They are representations of nature, providing insight into the philosophical and spiritual mind of past Chinese artisans and high-ranking citizens.

The principles of classical Chinese gardening can be useful and insightful to garden lovers living anywhere in the world. Chinese design objectives can inspire American home gardeners to try something new such as a garden fountain and encourage the expression of culture and philosophy through gardening.

In the 2,000 years since the imperial family first set aside natural areas for hunting, traditional gardens in China have developed into an art form equal in rank to painting, calligraphy and poetry. Several of the finest gardens, built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1912), have survived the ravages of time and politics.

Suzhou, about 50 miles west of Shanghai, is known as "the city of gardens." For generations, rich officials, merchants, landowners, scholars, garden designers and garden crafters settled in Suzhou to enhance its fame. The principles of classical Chinese gardens were well represented in their gardens. Visitors come to learn their secrets and experience their magic.

These gardens provide insight into the traditional Chinese view of nature, which includes the role human's play in the natural order. The gardens hold clues to the ancient Chinese mind through the winding paths, the use of symbolism and the selection of plants. In the traditional Chinese view of nature, humans were equals with everything in the natural world. As the philosopher Lao Tsu wrote in the Tao Te Ching, "Man follows the earth. Earth follows heaven. Heaven follows the Tao. Tao follows what is natural." Traditionally, Chinese people assisted in the expression of nature but did not impose their will upon it.

Chinese gardens were originally designed to symbolize a living entity: rocks formed the skeleton, water and fountains functioned as the blood, while plants provided the clothing. To portray the influence of human beings in nature, architectural constructions (bridges, pavilions, halls, courtyards, gateways, windows, doors and pavings) were integrated into a garden's design. Their purpose was to illustrate the ideal interaction of humans with nature. Together, these elements made up all that is natural on Earth: vegetation, mountains, and bodies of water with gently flowing Chinese fountains as well as human influence. The way they were integrated into the garden expressed the relationships they have in nature.

Gardeners in the West may be unable to mimic the grandeur with which the ancient Chinese gardeners represented nature, but they can include parts of each element. The goal is to create a sense of wholeness within the limitations of the site and to consider all these elements as integral parts of the garden.

Just as a garden's main elements are symbolic of the parts of a living whole, symbols that make up the culture's beliefs are scattered throughout Chinese gardens and integrated in their design. For example, bad spirits were believed to travel in straight lines so pathways were seldom designed straight or flat. It was believed that the many changes in levels and directions made it difficult for these spirits to infect the people enjoying the garden. Dragons, symbols of strength, change and goodness, frequently adorn Chinese fountain walls and roofs of garden structures.

Suitability -- The most appropriate location for every feature of a garden must be found. Seasonal changes in weather and plants as well as the physical requirements of the garden site are considered. In addition to finding the most suitable site for each garden element (plants, rocks, water fountains and architectural constructions), details such as the size, shape, color and placement of railings, windows and doors in a building, for example, are also considered to ensure complete harmony of the surroundings.

Taking Advantage - The Chinese garden designer attempts to use the garden's surroundings, whether near or distant, to the best advantage. Sights, sounds, movement and stillness, the subtle and the obvious, are used as part of the scenes created within the garden. Many of the private gardens in China were small in size -- no larger than the typical garden sites of single family homes in the United States. It is the challenge, then, of the garden designer to create the illusion of spaciousness by incorporating far-off sights and sounds into the garden's ambiance.

Refinement - To define what is refined in the garden design is a judgment rooted in culture. In Chinese gardens, this refinement has meant incorporating a tranquility, gracefulness, elegance, neatness and distinctness that is in accordance with nature. The expression of these characteristics is judged in China against culturally accepted historical standards. Outside of China, gardeners can define what is considered refined according to their own standards.

Simplicity - To Ji Cheng, being simple means not being extravagant. Resources that are on site or nearby are considered the best materials to use in designing the garden. Rare or unusual objects and plants are considered extravagant.

Changeability - This objective is prominent in traditional Chinese gardens because it expresses the natural law of constant change. A garden design can create a sense of change and unexpectedness with scene changes in every turn of a path, an unexpected or different view from each window and aesthetic changes with each season. Designs can include changes caused by clouds, sun, wind, rain, snow, insects, birds, plants and water.
A garden's plants provide a link among all its elements, symbolizing harmony in nature. Plants are the garden's dynamic, living component.

In accordance with the Chinese view of gardens as representations of nature, the trees, shrubs and flowers of a garden are chosen to reflect the unique features of the garden's region. Most traditional Chinese gardeners select native plants, or plants with special meaning in Chinese culture. Bamboo, for example, is common in Chinese gardens because of the many lessons it teaches. Bamboo is strong and resilient. Staying green throughout the winter, it teaches that one can flourish despite harsh conditions. Bamboo grows in clumps, modeling life in the family. Its fast growth illustrates self-development.

The plants are situated in ways that show off an individual plant's unique features. Their arrangements in the design demonstrate their interrelationships with other species as they occur in their natural habitats. The purpose of plants in Chinese gardens is to reflect the inherent order of nature. More than a collection of plants or even an expression of beauty in the purely visual sense, the classical Chinese garden is a physical representation of Chinese philosophy and culture. These gardens embody the best of traditional Chinese thought and culture, which sees humanity functioning as part of a greater natural order.

Today, home gardeners can apply their plant growing talents in the spirit of these old Chinese gardens by expressing their own culture and philosophy toward nature in their garden designs and by applying Ji Cheng's design objectives. The result will be a garden that unites aesthetics, plant cultivation, philosophy and culture.

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Gardening For the Birds

One of the most beautiful sounds from the great outdoors is the sound of singing birds. Nature's song makers have long been welcome visitors to our gardens, providing valuable services such as pest control and pollination as well as adding beauty to the surroundings. Is your garden a welcome haven for avian visitors?

To attract and keep birds to your gardens, you need to step back and take a "bird's eye" view of your property. Birds are going to be looking for a few specific things before they decide to call your garden home, and if you can provide those things, you'll attract a lot of feathered friends.

First of all, does your garden provide food and water? Everything needs to eat, so think about what sorts of food your garden can offer. Insects, berries, seeds, and acorns are all food sources for several types of birds. Set up a few feeding stations to offer food; if you place them carefully, you'll be able to watch the birds from your home or from a sitting area in your garden. With an eye to water, consider adding a birdbath (change the water daily to prevent mosquito larvae), or a small pond to your yard. Birds need to drink and to bathe, so they're definitely going to be appreciative of clean water.

Secondly, does your garden provide shelter and hiding areas? Most birds are prey for something else, so they need places that they can hide from predators, and safe places to build nests and raise their young. Hedges, left unshorn, offer great bird places, as do most trees. Consider putting up bird houses to give your birds a place to raise their young in safety and comfort.

Finally, is your garden planted with the kinds of plants that will attract specific kinds of birds? Do a little research into the types of birds that you want to attract, and plant the sorts of things they'd like to see. Hummingbirds, for example, are attracted to nectar producing flowers with red, trumpet shaped blooms.

The National Wildlife Federation offers lots of information on gardening for the birds, and even offers a certification program for backyard wildlife habitats. Remember, no garden is complete without the sounds of birdsong and the beauty of our feathered friends. Be kind and provide them with the basics they need to live, and they will reward you with many seasons of song to come!

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All The Essential Garden Home Tools

There is no end to the possible tools that the gardening enthusiasts will need for this practical pastime. But some garden home tools are more essential than others if you wish to attain worthwhile results.

Having a good quality shovel will certainly save you many hours of back breaking effort. A quality shovel is one that won't break the first time that you punch the hard dirt and pull back on the handle. It also needs to withstand the effects of clay or rocks, maintaining a good edge.

A square ended shovel is ideal for removing large amounts of earth at once, but they do tend to be tougher to push into the ground. It's often useful to use them on softer earth or for transporting piles of mud that have already been formed. They also make great tools for dispensing compost and manure based fertilizer over the area you wish to focus on.

The triangular spade can make a fine all purpose tool, and is in particular handy for creating those larger holes that are required to transplant larger shrubs or plant trees. One version is the telescope handle shovel which is fitted with a very narrow blade - similar to a trowel by with a longer handle. They are perfect for making small holes while standing upright and are also great for many weeding tasks.

Garden shears are a basic requirement. They are available in several sizes and shapes, but make certain to get some that do actually fit your hand. Most of the shears are fitted with moon shaped blades, meaning that one side is convex and the other concave. They're ideal for cutting off stems, branches and dead leaves. The versions that are equipped with a locking device to keep them closed are great for extra safety and simple storage.

A standard hand rake is a very handy tool that may be used for more purposes than you may imagine. Even if you have an electric leaf blower packed away in your garden shed, you'll still find times when it's neater and easier to use a rake. It's also a key tool for de-thatching the lawn in the fall, or preparing it in the spring.

You'll discover that having a wheelbarrow can be very useful and will get used more often than you may suspect. If you have several plants that need transporting, it's much easier to place them at the bottom of the barrow and be on your way.

They are also ideal for distributing fertilizers. You can simply place the sacks in the wheelbarrow or pour the contents, then drop it all over a specific area and spread around with a rake. This can be much easier than carrying around a 30lb sack in both arms and pouring the content out.

Apart from the basics there are many helpful garden home tools. A pole saw or folding saw is perfect for pruning trees. A hoe is likely to be used frequently. A mattock is handy for relaxing earth during weeding and transplanting. Gloves are often needed when working with those prickly plants. A trimmer, watering can, weeding tools... the list is never ending.

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Creating Japanese Gardens

Japanese gardens create landscapes which resembles nature through the careful placement of trees, shrubs, rocks, sand, artificial hills, ponds, and water. Zen and Shinto traditions have greatly influenced Japanese gardening and as a result the gardens are contemplative and serene spaces. It is essential that all the elements work well together within the garden and that the relationship between rocks, plants and water is well thought out.

The basic landscape elements found in most Japanese gardens include trees, shrubs, rocks, gravel, water, moss, stones and fences. Boulders are often used as centerpieces and provide the garden with a feeling of stability. Gravel is used to imitate the flow of water and other small stones are used to create boundaries and are turned into sculptural lanterns. Water, whether it be in the form of a pond, stream, or waterfall, is an essential part of a Japanese garden. It can be actual water or a symbolic representation, either way, it is vital to the Japanese garden.

In Japanese gardening there are three basic ways to create a landscape scene. The first of these is reduced scale. Reduced scale is the art of taking an actual scene from nature, mountains, rivers, trees, and all, and reproducing it on a smaller scale. Symbolization is abstract and could include using white sand to symbolize water and boulders to symbolize islands. Borrowed views refers to the use of distant a landscapes, such as a mountain, and incorporating it into the garden.

There are several types of Japanese gardens. Zen garden are meant to be viewed rather than entered. They are comprised of a mix of boulders, gravel or sand, moss and a limited number of trees an shrubs. Carefully placed stones symbolize islands while the gravel or sand, raked into interesting patterns, symbolizes water. Zen gardens help clear the mind and aid in contemplation.

Another type of Japanese garden is the tea garden. The tea garden is considered a ceremonial space which consists of an outer garden and an inner garden. Tea gardens are small and are ideal for those gardens with limited space. The outer garden is informal and consists of an entry gate to and a stone path leading toward the inner garden. Another stone path flows through the inner garden, whose plants are more formally placed. The inner path leads to a small building where the actual tea ceremony is performed.

Another garden appropriate for a small space or patio is the courtyard garden. The design of the Japanese courtyard garden is kept simple and is usually built to be observed from inside the house. It could, however, be planned so it is a usable outdoor space. Consisting of a few plants, a small water feature, a dry stream, or other simple elements, the Japanese courtyard garden allows nature and light to flow into your home through large windows and patio doors.

The above examples are just a few Japanese garden styles. Before designing and planting your own garden, look through some garden books and search for photos of Japanese gardens online. Japanese gardens are intended to create a meditative and relaxing experience. A little planning and research will help you design a serene and beautiful landscape which will delight all who visit your garden.

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Interested In A Japanese Garden?

If you have ever been lucky enough to behold a Japanese Garden then you'll surely know what it is to truly want something. Everyone who has ever seen one of these gardens wanted one in their home simply because they are that beautiful. Well good news, it's not that hard so don't wait any longer, now you can actually have it!

A Japanese garden can be quite versatile although the overall landscape is fundamentally Oriental. But it can include anything from a fish pond with Koi fish to a rock waterfall and even a stream depending on how much space you have and how much of a true Japanese garden you want.

The first task is to dig a ditch for the pond for the Japanese garden since no garden is complete without this. After weeding the desired area and making a sizable ditch, it is wise to go down to your local home and garden store to see what kind of materials, pond molds and other things that you'll need for the garden to keep it well maintained and healthy even after you complete the project. Pond molds are black containers that are used to protect fish and other livestock from being contaminated but cement and soil that are used in the garden project.

A nice addition to a Japanese garden is not just a fish pond but also to furnish the pond with oriental style plants. Plants like reeds and short filler plants work extraordinarily well with the Japanese garden since these are very easy to maintain and don't grow very fast.

These plants can be tied into the garden using small pots or flat stones. Pond stones can be purchased or if you live close to a stream you can find a great selection there also. Placing these flat rocks around the rim of the pond will took care of not just the oriental plants but also it will help keep the pond mold in the ditch more firmly in place.

Next up is the task of decorating the Japanese garden. With an actual Japanese garden, less is more. Because plans and rocks are very eye catching, too many of them will overcrowd the balance and take away from the garden as a whole so it's best to limit the amount of plants and other ornaments like statues and statuettes. Another nice addition is a small Dojo house and an oriental statue, something that perhaps symbolizes peace or tranquility.

Absolutely everything you need for your Japanese garden can be found online but because of the popularity of these gardens in recent times many local home and garden stores carry a wide range of plants, ornaments, statues and other Oriental things that will complete your garden. Just remember that less truly is more and do leave a lot of space in between your decorative ornaments so that you don't hide the beauty of your garden.

A Japanese garden is simple to make and it is relatively inexpensive. In fact with the right amount of looking around and creative thinking you can put together your very own low cost Japanese garden that looks like you imported it directly from Japan!

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The Basics of Japanese Gardening

Things to keep in mind for a beautiful garden

Main principles on the garden's design

Bring the Japanese feeling into your garden with these basic steps. First of all, embrace the ideal of nature. That means, keep things in your garden as natural as possible, avoiding to include things that could disrupt this natural appearance.

For example, don't include square ponds in your design as square ponds are nowhere to be found in nature. Also, a waterfall would be something closer to what exists in nature if we compare it to a fountain. So you also have to consider the Japanese concept of sumi or balance. Because one of Japanese gardening design main purposes is to recreate large landscapes even in the smallest place. Be careful when choosing the elements for your garden, because you don't want to end up filling your ten by ten courtyard with huge rocks.

As a miniaturized landscape, the rocks in the garden would represent mountains and the ponds would represent lakes. A space filled with sand would represent an ocean. By that we assume that garden masters were looking to achieve a minimalistic approach, best represented by the phrase "less is more".

The elements of time and space

One of the things westerners notice at first are the many portions of empty space in the garden. In fact, these spaces are an important feature in Japanese gardening. This space called ma, relates to the elements around it and that also surround it. The concepts of in and yo are of vital importance here, they are best known to the Western civilization by the Chinese names yin and yang. If you want to have something you have to start with having nothing. This is an idea quite difficult to understand, but it is a rule of thumb in Japanese gardening.

An important clue in the development of a garden is the concept of wabi and sabi. There's no literal English translation for those words. Wabi is about uniqueness, or the essence of something; a close literal translation is solitary. Sabi deals with the definition of time or the ideal image of something; the closest definition might be time strenghtened character. Given the case, a cement lantern that might appear unique, would lack of that ideal image. Or an old rock covered in lichens would have no wabi if it's just a round boulder. That's why it is important to find that balance.

Ma and wabi/sabi are connected to the concepts of space and time. When it comes to seasons, the garden must show the special character of each one. Japanese garden lovers dedicate time to their gardens every season, unlike the western gardener who deserts in fall just to be seen again in spring.

A very relaxing view in spring is given by the bright green of new buds and the blossoms of the azaleas. In summer, the lush foliage in combination with the pond offer a powerful and fresh image. The vivid spectacle of the brilliant colors of dying leaves in fall are a prelude for the arrival of winter and its white shroud of snow.

The two most important gardening seasons in Japan are spring and winter. Japanese refer to the snow accumulated on braches as Sekku or snow blossoms. Yukimi, or the snow viewing lantern, is another typical element of the Japanese garden in winter. The sleep of the garden in winter is an important episode for our Japanese gardener, while for the western gardener spring is the beginning of the work at the garden. Maybe because of the eastern point of view as death like part of the life cycle, or perhaps the western fear to death.

About garden enclosures
Let's see the garden as a microcosm of nature. If we're looking for the garden to be a true retreat, we have to 'set it apart' from the outside world. Because of that, fences and gates are important components of the Japanese garden.

The fence and the gates have both symbolism and functionality. The worries and concerns of our daily life have to stay out of this separate world that becomes the garden. The fence protects us from the outside world and the gate is the threshold where we leave our daily worries and then prepare ourselves to confront the real world again.

The use of fences is based in the concept of hide/reveal or Miegakure. Fence styles are very simple and are put in combination with screen planting, thus not giving many clues of what hides inside. You can give a sample look of your garden by cutting a small window in the solid wall that encloses your garden if that's the case. Sode-gaki, or sleeve fences, are fences attached to an architectural structure, that will only show a specific view of the garden from inside the house. Thus, we're invited to get into the garden and enjoy it in its entirety. That's what makes the true understanding of the garden, to lose in it our sense of time and self.

Basic Arrangements
Despite the fact that certain rules are applied to each individual garden, don't think that there's just one type of garden. There are three basic styles that differ by setting and purpose.

Hill and Pond Garden (Chisen-Kaiyu-skiki)
A China imported classic style. A pond or a space filled with raked gravel fronts a hill (or hills). This style always represents mountainous places and commonly makes use of vegetation indigenous to the mountains. Stroll gardens commonly use this style.

Flat Garden (Hiraniwa)
It derives from the use of open, flat spaces in front of temples and palaces for ceremonies. This is an appropriate style for contemplation and that represents a seashore area (with the use of the right plants). This is a style frequently used in courtyards.

Tea Gardens (Rojiniwa)
Function has a greater importance than form in this type of garden. The Roji or dewy path, is the main point of the garden, along with the pond and the gates. This would be the exception to the rule. The simple and sparse plantings give a rustic feeling to the garden.

Formality has to be taken in consideration
Hill and pond and flat styles may be shin (formal), gyo (intermediate) or so (informal). Formal styles were to be found usually at temples or palaces, intermediate styles were suitable for most residences, and the informal style was used in peasant huts and mountain retreats. The tea garden is the one that always fits in the informal style.

The garden components

Rocks (ishi in Japanese) are the main concern of the Japanese garden. If the stones are placed correctly, then the garden shows in a perfect balance. So here are shown the basic stone types and the rules for their positions.

The basic stones are the tall upright stone, the low upright stone, the curved stone, the reclining stone, and the horizontal stone. These must be usually set in triads although this doesn't happen always. Two almost identical stones (by way of example, two tall verticals or two reclining stones), one a little quite smaller than the other, can be set together as male and female, but the use of them in threes, fives, and sevens is more frequent.

We have to keep away from the Three Bad Stones. These are the Diseased stone (having a withered or misshapen top), the Dead stone (an obviously vertical one used as a horizontal, or vice versa, like the placement of a dead body), and the Pauper Stone (a stone having no connection to the several other ones in the garden). Use only one stone of each of the basic types in any cluster (the rest have to be smaller, modest stones also known as throwaway stones). Stones can be placed as sculptures, set against a background in a two-dimensional way, or given a purpose, such as a stepping stone or a bridge.

When used as stepping stones they should be between one and three inches above the soil, yet solid underfoot, as if rooted into the ground. They can be put in straight lines, offset for left foot, right foot (referred as chidori or plover, after the tracks the shore bird leaves), or set in sets of twos, threes, fours, or fives (and any combination thereof).

The pathway stands for the passage through life, and even particular stones by the path may have meaning. A much wider stone placed across the path tells us to put two feet here, stopping to enjoy the view. There are numerous stones for specific places. When observing the basic design principles, we can notice the exact character of the Japanese garden.

Water (mizu in Japanese) plays an important part in the composition of the Japanese garden because of Japan's abundant rainfall. Water can be represented even with a raked gravel area instead of water. A rushing stream can be represented by placing flat river stones closely together. In the tea garden, where there isn't any stream or pond, water plays the most important role in the ritual cleansing at the chozubachi, or water basin. As the water fills and empties from the shishi-odoki, or deer scare, the clack of bamboo on rock helps mark the passage of time.

The flow of water, the way it sounds and looks, brings to mind the continual passage of time. A bridge crossing the water stream is often used as a landscaping complement. Bridges denote a journey, just as pathways do. Hashi, in japanese, can mean bridge or edge. Bridges are the symbolic pass from one world into another, a constant theme in Japanese art.

Plants or Shokobutsu may play a secondary role to the stones in the garden, but they are a primary concern in the design too. Stones represent what remains unchanged, so trees, shrubs, and perennials have to represent the passing of seasons. Earlier garden styles used plants to make up poetic connotations or to correct geomantic issues, but these have little meaning today.

As the the Heian style diminished under the Zen influence, perennials and grasses fell out of use. So, for a long time, there were only a few plants that tradition allowed for the garden. However, in modern Japan, designers are again widening the spectrum of materials used. It is highly recommended that native plants are chosen for the garden, because showy exotic plants are not in good taste. Be aware that native plants are used in the garden, because it is in bad taste to use showy exotic plants. Although pines, cherries and bamboo immediatly remind us of Japanese gardens, we encourage you to use native plants of your locality that you can find pleasing. If we choose evergreens as the main plant theme and combine it with deciduous material that may provide seasonal blooms or foliage color we can recreate the look of the Japanese garden.

Now the next thing taken in consideration in a Japanese garden are the ornaments or Tenkebutsu. Stone lanterns are, for westerners, a typical impression of Japanese gardens.Stone lanterns are not important components of the Japanese garden. The reason is that ornaments are subjected to the garden's design. Lanterns, stupas, and basins are just architectural complements added when a point of visual interest is necessary to the design.

A good way to finish yor garden design could be a well-placed lantern. The three main styles (although with many variations) are: The Kasuga style lantern, is a very formal one featuring a stone base. In the Oribe style lantern, unlike the Kasuga style, the pedestal is underneath the ground. The Yukimi or Snow-Viewing lantern is set on short legs instead of a pedestal. Consider the formality of your garden setting to choose the appropiate lantern.

When possible, elements from outside the garden can be included in it. For instance, you can work a far away mountain including the scenery in your design, framing it with the stones and plants existing in the garden.
The borrowed scenery (shakkei in Japanese) can be: Far (as in a far away mountain); near (a tree just outside the fence); High (an element seen above the fence) or low (like a component seen below a fence or through a window in the fence).

As much as it is perceived to contradict our sense of enclosure, it reminds us of how all things are interconnected.

The feel of your garden
The Japanese garden is a subtle place full of contradictions and imperatives. Where firmly established rules are broken with other rules. If you meet the Buddha on the road, you must kill him is a Zen paradox that recommends not to stick so tightly to rules, and the same goes for Japanese gardens.

When building a Japanese garden, don't get too attached to traditions that hold little meaning for you. It would have no function to recreate a Buddhist saints garden. This also applies to trying to remember the meaning of stone placements, as this method is no longer used in Japan, or even in the United States, due to the lack of meaning for us in the modern world.

That's why we have selected a few gardening suggestions that do hold relevance and integrate them into a garden. These three ideas on gardening will give direction to achieve perfect results.

First
The overall setting of the garden should always be right for the location, not the other way around.

Second
The stones should be placed first, next the trees, and then the shrubs.

Third
Get used to the concepts of shin, gyo, and so. This is of great help to start working on the garden.

Have in mind that the real Japanese gardens are the traditional ones in Japan. What we can do in America is to shape a garden in the Japanese style. Rikyu once said about the perfect Roji: "Thick green moss, all pure and sunny warm". In other words, techniques are not as important as the feeling you evoke in your garden. Said in other way, the feeling is more important than techniques.

Read more...

The Basics of Japanese Gardening

Things to keep in mind for a beautiful garden

Main principles on the garden's design

Bring the Japanese feeling into your garden with these basic steps. First of all, embrace the ideal of nature. That means, keep things in your garden as natural as possible, avoiding to include things that could disrupt this natural appearance.

For example, don't include square ponds in your design as square ponds are nowhere to be found in nature. Also, a waterfall would be something closer to what exists in nature if we compare it to a fountain. So you also have to consider the Japanese concept of sumi or balance. Because one of Japanese gardening design main purposes is to recreate large landscapes even in the smallest place. Be careful when choosing the elements for your garden, because you don't want to end up filling your ten by ten courtyard with huge rocks.

As a miniaturized landscape, the rocks in the garden would represent mountains and the ponds would represent lakes. A space filled with sand would represent an ocean. By that we assume that garden masters were looking to achieve a minimalistic approach, best represented by the phrase "less is more".

The elements of time and space

One of the things westerners notice at first are the many portions of empty space in the garden. In fact, these spaces are an important feature in Japanese gardening. This space called ma, relates to the elements around it and that also surround it. The concepts of in and yo are of vital importance here, they are best known to the Western civilization by the Chinese names yin and yang. If you want to have something you have to start with having nothing. This is an idea quite difficult to understand, but it is a rule of thumb in Japanese gardening.

An important clue in the development of a garden is the concept of wabi and sabi. There's no literal English translation for those words. Wabi is about uniqueness, or the essence of something; a close literal translation is solitary. Sabi deals with the definition of time or the ideal image of something; the closest definition might be time strenghtened character. Given the case, a cement lantern that might appear unique, would lack of that ideal image. Or an old rock covered in lichens would have no wabi if it's just a round boulder. That's why it is important to find that balance.

Ma and wabi/sabi are connected to the concepts of space and time. When it comes to seasons, the garden must show the special character of each one. Japanese garden lovers dedicate time to their gardens every season, unlike the western gardener who deserts in fall just to be seen again in spring.

A very relaxing view in spring is given by the bright green of new buds and the blossoms of the azaleas. In summer, the lush foliage in combination with the pond offer a powerful and fresh image. The vivid spectacle of the brilliant colors of dying leaves in fall are a prelude for the arrival of winter and its white shroud of snow.

The two most important gardening seasons in Japan are spring and winter. Japanese refer to the snow accumulated on braches as Sekku or snow blossoms. Yukimi, or the snow viewing lantern, is another typical element of the Japanese garden in winter. The sleep of the garden in winter is an important episode for our Japanese gardener, while for the western gardener spring is the beginning of the work at the garden. Maybe because of the eastern point of view as death like part of the life cycle, or perhaps the western fear to death.

About garden enclosures
Let's see the garden as a microcosm of nature. If we're looking for the garden to be a true retreat, we have to 'set it apart' from the outside world. Because of that, fences and gates are important components of the Japanese garden.

The fence and the gates have both symbolism and functionality. The worries and concerns of our daily life have to stay out of this separate world that becomes the garden. The fence protects us from the outside world and the gate is the threshold where we leave our daily worries and then prepare ourselves to confront the real world again.

The use of fences is based in the concept of hide/reveal or Miegakure. Fence styles are very simple and are put in combination with screen planting, thus not giving many clues of what hides inside. You can give a sample look of your garden by cutting a small window in the solid wall that encloses your garden if that's the case. Sode-gaki, or sleeve fences, are fences attached to an architectural structure, that will only show a specific view of the garden from inside the house. Thus, we're invited to get into the garden and enjoy it in its entirety. That's what makes the true understanding of the garden, to lose in it our sense of time and self.

Basic Arrangements
Despite the fact that certain rules are applied to each individual garden, don't think that there's just one type of garden. There are three basic styles that differ by setting and purpose.

Hill and Pond Garden (Chisen-Kaiyu-skiki)
A China imported classic style. A pond or a space filled with raked gravel fronts a hill (or hills). This style always represents mountainous places and commonly makes use of vegetation indigenous to the mountains. Stroll gardens commonly use this style.

Flat Garden (Hiraniwa)
It derives from the use of open, flat spaces in front of temples and palaces for ceremonies. This is an appropriate style for contemplation and that represents a seashore area (with the use of the right plants). This is a style frequently used in courtyards.

Tea Gardens (Rojiniwa)
Function has a greater importance than form in this type of garden. The Roji or dewy path, is the main point of the garden, along with the pond and the gates. This would be the exception to the rule. The simple and sparse plantings give a rustic feeling to the garden.

Formality has to be taken in consideration
Hill and pond and flat styles may be shin (formal), gyo (intermediate) or so (informal). Formal styles were to be found usually at temples or palaces, intermediate styles were suitable for most residences, and the informal style was used in peasant huts and mountain retreats. The tea garden is the one that always fits in the informal style.

The garden components

Rocks (ishi in Japanese) are the main concern of the Japanese garden. If the stones are placed correctly, then the garden shows in a perfect balance. So here are shown the basic stone types and the rules for their positions.

The basic stones are the tall upright stone, the low upright stone, the curved stone, the reclining stone, and the horizontal stone. These must be usually set in triads although this doesn't happen always. Two almost identical stones (by way of example, two tall verticals or two reclining stones), one a little quite smaller than the other, can be set together as male and female, but the use of them in threes, fives, and sevens is more frequent.

We have to keep away from the Three Bad Stones. These are the Diseased stone (having a withered or misshapen top), the Dead stone (an obviously vertical one used as a horizontal, or vice versa, like the placement of a dead body), and the Pauper Stone (a stone having no connection to the several other ones in the garden). Use only one stone of each of the basic types in any cluster (the rest have to be smaller, modest stones also known as throwaway stones). Stones can be placed as sculptures, set against a background in a two-dimensional way, or given a purpose, such as a stepping stone or a bridge.

When used as stepping stones they should be between one and three inches above the soil, yet solid underfoot, as if rooted into the ground. They can be put in straight lines, offset for left foot, right foot (referred as chidori or plover, after the tracks the shore bird leaves), or set in sets of twos, threes, fours, or fives (and any combination thereof).

The pathway stands for the passage through life, and even particular stones by the path may have meaning. A much wider stone placed across the path tells us to put two feet here, stopping to enjoy the view. There are numerous stones for specific places. When observing the basic design principles, we can notice the exact character of the Japanese garden.

Water (mizu in Japanese) plays an important part in the composition of the Japanese garden because of Japan's abundant rainfall. Water can be represented even with a raked gravel area instead of water. A rushing stream can be represented by placing flat river stones closely together. In the tea garden, where there isn't any stream or pond, water plays the most important role in the ritual cleansing at the chozubachi, or water basin. As the water fills and empties from the shishi-odoki, or deer scare, the clack of bamboo on rock helps mark the passage of time.

The flow of water, the way it sounds and looks, brings to mind the continual passage of time. A bridge crossing the water stream is often used as a landscaping complement. Bridges denote a journey, just as pathways do. Hashi, in japanese, can mean bridge or edge. Bridges are the symbolic pass from one world into another, a constant theme in Japanese art.

Plants or Shokobutsu may play a secondary role to the stones in the garden, but they are a primary concern in the design too. Stones represent what remains unchanged, so trees, shrubs, and perennials have to represent the passing of seasons. Earlier garden styles used plants to make up poetic connotations or to correct geomantic issues, but these have little meaning today.

As the the Heian style diminished under the Zen influence, perennials and grasses fell out of use. So, for a long time, there were only a few plants that tradition allowed for the garden. However, in modern Japan, designers are again widening the spectrum of materials used. It is highly recommended that native plants are chosen for the garden, because showy exotic plants are not in good taste. Be aware that native plants are used in the garden, because it is in bad taste to use showy exotic plants. Although pines, cherries and bamboo immediatly remind us of Japanese gardens, we encourage you to use native plants of your locality that you can find pleasing. If we choose evergreens as the main plant theme and combine it with deciduous material that may provide seasonal blooms or foliage color we can recreate the look of the Japanese garden.

Now the next thing taken in consideration in a Japanese garden are the ornaments or Tenkebutsu. Stone lanterns are, for westerners, a typical impression of Japanese gardens.Stone lanterns are not important components of the Japanese garden. The reason is that ornaments are subjected to the garden's design. Lanterns, stupas, and basins are just architectural complements added when a point of visual interest is necessary to the design.

A good way to finish yor garden design could be a well-placed lantern. The three main styles (although with many variations) are: The Kasuga style lantern, is a very formal one featuring a stone base. In the Oribe style lantern, unlike the Kasuga style, the pedestal is underneath the ground. The Yukimi or Snow-Viewing lantern is set on short legs instead of a pedestal. Consider the formality of your garden setting to choose the appropiate lantern.

When possible, elements from outside the garden can be included in it. For instance, you can work a far away mountain including the scenery in your design, framing it with the stones and plants existing in the garden.
The borrowed scenery (shakkei in Japanese) can be: Far (as in a far away mountain); near (a tree just outside the fence); High (an element seen above the fence) or low (like a component seen below a fence or through a window in the fence).

As much as it is perceived to contradict our sense of enclosure, it reminds us of how all things are interconnected.

The feel of your garden
The Japanese garden is a subtle place full of contradictions and imperatives. Where firmly established rules are broken with other rules. If you meet the Buddha on the road, you must kill him is a Zen paradox that recommends not to stick so tightly to rules, and the same goes for Japanese gardens.

When building a Japanese garden, don't get too attached to traditions that hold little meaning for you. It would have no function to recreate a Buddhist saints garden. This also applies to trying to remember the meaning of stone placements, as this method is no longer used in Japan, or even in the United States, due to the lack of meaning for us in the modern world.

That's why we have selected a few gardening suggestions that do hold relevance and integrate them into a garden. These three ideas on gardening will give direction to achieve perfect results.

First
The overall setting of the garden should always be right for the location, not the other way around.

Second
The stones should be placed first, next the trees, and then the shrubs.

Third
Get used to the concepts of shin, gyo, and so. This is of great help to start working on the garden.

Have in mind that the real Japanese gardens are the traditional ones in Japan. What we can do in America is to shape a garden in the Japanese style. Rikyu once said about the perfect Roji: "Thick green moss, all pure and sunny warm". In other words, techniques are not as important as the feeling you evoke in your garden. Said in other way, the feeling is more important than techniques.

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Zen Garden Design

Zen gardens are very unique landscaping designs that are also known as "Japanese Rock Gardens." . The word "Zen" means "dry" and the Japanese word for this type of garden is karesansui, meaning dry landscape. Consisting almost exclusively of stones and sand, this type of garden became very popular in Japan during the Shogun era (1185-1573AD), when feudal lords sought to landscape their estates in emulation of Buddhist temples. Monks frequently used such gardens to represent complex Universal truths in simple forms, and they frequently used them as places of meditation to calm and clear their minds.

Although American popular culture commonly refers to anything that looks Japanese or Eastern as a "Zen garden," a true karesansui never contains water. Instead, it uses gravel and sand to symbolize water. Usually the gravel is white or near white in coloration, although this is not a hard-fast rule in landscaping. The reason that sand and gravel are used as water substitutes is because they can be intricately sculpted in ways that water cannot. Using only a rake, a landscaper
can depict ripples, sea waves, rushing rivers, or still, quiet lakes. Every so often, the gardener will alter these patterns to reflect the Buddhism belief that the only thing constant in the Universe is change itself. Even those things that appear to be the most fixed of forms are slowly being altered by unseen forces all around us. In many Buddhist temples even to this day, monks remind themselves of this truth by raking the sand in their Zen gardens while they meditate, seeking a still mind in the perfection of linear form, and creative insight in curved patterns of motion that wrap harmoniously around alternating forms.

In most Zen gardens, rocks take the place of vegetation. This is another aspect of their design that makes these landscapes highly unique. Stones carefully placed in the sand create focal points in the endless fluidity that surrounds them, allowing an infinite variety of wave forms to accent their structure and positioning. Buddhist monks, long before Einstein, understood the relationship between matter and energy. The interplay of sand and stone directly reflects this relativistic relationship with a set of simple, natural symbols that are easy to work with and peaceful to behold. The relationship between light sand and dark stone is another important symbolic element, and directly correlates to the concepts of yin and yang. It must be emphasized that black is NOT a symbol of evil in the Eastern World, but instead represents the receptive elements of the mind. In a similar way, white has nothing at all to do with our moral concept of good. It symbolizes the mind's ability to express itself through intentional action. The careful placement of darker stones in lighter sand (or vice versa) is therefore never intended to represent a clash of opposites. Instead, it is meant to represent the dual nature of the mind as it perceives reality through contemplation, then acts upon it through intention.

One famous Japanese text even goes so far as to state that the most important element of Zen gardening is the placement of stones. The text goes on to say that rocks should always be positioned where the most attractive side faces the viewer. It also states emphatically that there should be a greater number of horizontal stones (or "chasing stones" as they are called in Japan) than there are vertical stones (called "running stones" in the text). Again, this helps emphasize the rising force of intent coming up from the depths of the mind. Intent is mystery in Buddhism, but its effects are clearly evidenced by action.

The philosophical function of rocks is complimented on the practical level practical level by decoratively arranging them to represent objects that are commonly found in Nature. Ancient Japanese texts on the subject recommend creating such features as mountains, lakes, seashores, rivers, and cliffs out of rocks of varying sizes. The only vegetation typically found in an authentic Zen garden is moss, which is trained to grow over rocks in emulation of forests growing along river banks, lakeshores, and mountainsides covered in forests. Very small shrubs are used at times to frame a Zen garden, but only as a perimeter element, and seldom, if ever, as a central one.

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Create Your Own Lovely Garden Design

For those of us who love to garden, garden design is a subject near and dear to our hearts. When the winter months deprive us of the chance to roll up our sleeves and dig some dirt or tend the flowers, nothing can stop us from poring through the seed and plant catalogs, dreaming of spring. Plans to put in a cutting bed or create a mini-field of perennial wildflowers dance in your head like sugarplums, full of fun and promise. Without a cohesive plan for your planting adventures, you may end up with a garden design that's not as pleasing as you'd like.

Winter is a great time to work on sprucing up your existing garden and fine-tuning an overall design. After all, what else is there to do?

The fun part of designing a garden is constructing your wishlist of plants, from shrubs to vegetables - and beyond, of course! Remember, you don't need to do it all this year. Gardening is somewhat like a great marriage. It's a lifelong love. So when you put your list of projects to paper, think long term. Don't hesitate to include your ideal plants, garden ornamentation, brick pathway, or the massive display of spring bulbs giving way to summer perennials.

The old way of garden design required graph paper, a sharp pencil, plenty of patience and excellent visualization skills. Although some gardeners still prefer this method, you can have a lot of fun creating your garden design with any number of excellent software packages that are available now. A number of free garden design software packages are listed below, together with some professional garden design software packages.

There is some manual labor involved. You do need to measure the dimensions of your garden area. Once that's accomplished, you're ready to sit down and create a visual representation of your dream garden design.

Garden design software comes with databases of plant images and characteristics, organized in categories. Choose your gardening zone, plant type, exposure and soil requirements to select those suited to your plot and taste. Such software lets you virtually install your brick pathway and plant a perimeter of annuals. You'll see how many plants are required for the allotted space and how they'll look at planting time as well as in midsummer. How about a shade tree to eventually cool your southern facing kitchen? Select your tree and plant it. See how much cooling cover it provides three or five or ten years from now. The software calculates the distance of the tree from your house that's required to keep your foundation intact 20 years from now. Marvelous! The visuals provided by such garden design software are inspiring and accurate representations of what you may expect of your design, both in the short and long term.

The best thing about garden design software is that if you decide you don't care for the looks of an area, you just do it over - on your computer! You can also make as many garden designs as you wish. It's a lovely way to spend some winter's evenings!

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Italian Garden Design

A client in the Heights contracted Exterior Worlds to create an Italian garden with a number of complimentary, classical elements to the front and rear of their home. Their house had a classic Old World appearance to it. It was a two-story structure with a porch and an upstairs balcony. Steps led up to the porch, and shuttered windows with arched tops lined both the porch and the balcony. A stately, old, and very large oak tree grew just next to the house, reaching up and over the top of the house. The architecture and indigenous landscape were an ideal setting to further develop a European look and feel to the property.

We began by installing lights in the trees next to the home in order to illuminate the roof and balcony, and we placed lights under the eaves of the porch and patio to illuminate the surfaces, walls, and windows. We planted a small Italian garden in the front near the trees. In it, we placed a variety of ground cover plant species, shrubbery, and smaller, ornamental trees. This lent an organic sense to a very symmetrical and elegant structure, and helped develop the Classical theme we were asked to create. We completed the design in the front with urns placed on either side of the stairs that led up to the front door. This worked to create a sense of grand entryway that alluded to a sense of Roman antiquity and classical design.

The home had been built toward the front of the lot, so the majority of the property lay behind the house. This provided a great deal of room to develop an Italian garden with a number of functional and aesthetic elements that fit the lifestyles of the owners. The first thing we designed for them was a planter, shaped like a small wall, which surrounded the rear perimeter of the home. This provided a casual seating area for the home owners that they use as an overlook point to appreciate the scenery beyond. In the morning they could sit outside and watch the sunrise while they drank coffee and talked, or comfortably recline while they read the paper.

Just a few feet from this planter, we built a water fountain. We designed it as a rectangle to continue the movement of the house, because all Italian gardens are intended to follow the linear movement of architecture and maintain a sense of order and proportion throughout their continuity. Although the fountain featured very simple and compact proportions, we made it look much more dramatic and prominent by installing four water jets and 4 underwater lights to draw attention to it in the dark.

Around the fountain we then laid down a paver patio using a blend of hardscape and softscape paving. This blended construction made the patio appear to be fading into the grass, and caused the patio and surrounding gardens to look more classically Italian. The patio was surrounded by bull nose coping and sloped slightly toward the planter walls, which were built with unseen, 1-inch drain channel to provide a convenient and unobtrusive means of water runoff. We then filled the space around the new patio and planter with an Italian garden featuring cypress and decorative handmade pottery.

At the far end of the property, we completed our project with an arbor that functioned as a destination for outdoor entertainment and a terminus for the Italian garden design. The garden arbor was built on a limestone patio, and was constructed out of Permacast columns and a cedar top. We installed a ceiling fan within the arbor, and decorated the patio with tables and chairs to provide a comfortable gathering place for visiting guests.

One very unique feature was also added to this arbor to complete its design. This final piece was a mirror built to look like a window. Because the property bordered a commercial lot that had a rather unattractive building on it, we wanted to create a sense of enclosure and provide a focal point that would draw the eye away from the eyesore behind the arbor. A mirror proved much more useful for this purpose, because it both blocked the view of the building, and it magnified the apparent size of the Italian garden, fountain, planter, and rear of the home.

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