Over the past few years I have created several Japanese gardens.  I love the Asian garden design with its simplicity and ancient rituals of lanterns and fountains.  The first Japanese garden I created was in my own back yard.  I decided to create a Japanese garden in an area of my back yard that was heavy shade and a very out of the way area of the yard.   I have found that a Japanese style garden can be an excellent solution for those areas that are difficult to come up with a landscaping solution.  Especially those areas with heavy shade and lots of moss.  So many customers ask me what they should do with this type of area and when I suggest this would be a great spot to create a Japanese garden they are very intrigued.

Recently I did some upgrades to my Japanese garden.  Last year we had a flood in Atlanta that swept away a part of the Japanese garden landscape in my backyard so this spring I decided it was a good time to do some improvements from the original design.  Here is a picture of the area of the backyard before I created the Japanese Garden.

I spent a lot of time planning the layout of the Asian style garden.  One of the best resources I found was this book.

One of the elements I wanted to incorporate into my garden was a dry (karesanui) style element.  This would add elements of stones and gravel symbolizing water and islands.   As I researched the symbolism of the elements in this style of garden I realized how important it was to plan the placement and size of the elements I would use to create a Japanese garden.

Other elements in the garden would be a Japanese lantern, sitting rock and a landscape pathway in and out of the garden.  I utilized some borders I found at Home Depot and added some plant material to finish off the garden.  Low voltage landscape lighting was added to accent the garden at night, complete with a little light running to the lantern.

Here is the Japanese Garden after the first construction.

The dry garden is at the low right side of the picture with the path leading into and out of the garden.

You can see a small fountain in the middle of the picture and the Japanese lantern is located to the right. It’s a little hidden behind the privet but you can see the red lantern base.  I actually found the Japanese lantern in the woods of a friend’s house and was lucky enough to have him give it to me.  If you are not as lucky you can find great Japanese lanterns here.

Japanese Lantern

The flood actually washed most of the dry Japanese garden and pathway out.  Most of those upright granite stones and actually the bridge were washed into the drainage ditch that runs through our backyard.  The drainage ditch is what the bridge spans.

As you can see the little fence behind the Japanese garden is pieced together and not doing well so this spring another phase of the reconstruct was to replace the fence line that runs the entire distance of our backyard.  There were actual sections that had just fallen over as you moved to the left of the section you see in this picture.  One of the elements that I have thought about for some time now that I would like to add to the Asian style garden is a bamboo fence.  In fact I priced one out a few years ago, it was not cheap.  But in deciding that this was the year to replace the fence and I was in need of repairing the flood damage to the Japanese garden, it was time to put on the thinking cap and come up with a plan.

What I ended up doing is rebuilding the fence to match what was originally there but stopping right before the Japanese garden and completing the fence line with a bamboo fence.

Again I went back to my trusty Japanese Garden book.  Again, I am telling you, if you are serious about having a Japanese style garden, you need this book.  It is invaluable.

There is a section in the back of the book that shows you how to tie the knots and build the fence.   I came up with a bit of my own design but still tried to keep it as authentic as possible.  After much research in trying to locate bamboo poles I ended up asking a local homeowner if he would let me cut some for my needs.  He was gracious enough to offer his bamboo as a gift.  Its amazing what you can get if you just ask.

Another fantastic resource is this ebook.  This will actually allow you to get started immediately since you just download the book and start planning right now.  The information that has been compiled in this manual is priceless and will give you everything you need to create your meditative masterpiece.

Do It Yourself Japanese Garden

This book will:

• Gives YOU the 5 essential types of Japanese Gardens, and how to choose the right one for you!
• Show’s you how to transform your backyard in a matter of hours.
• Reveals the TRUTH about Japanese Rock Garden principles and the Deep Symbolic meaning behind them!
• Demonstrates easy, step by step sample garden designs for you to follow.
• Helps you choose the right plants, before you begin!
• Assists you to not make the biggest mistake most people make when designing their own Japanese Garden.
• How to successfully bring together all of the essential elements to make the Japanese Garden you have always dreamed of.

Do It Yourself Japanese Garden

The last upgrade I wanted to do was to have a more traditional water feature incorporated into the Japanese garden.  I created a bamboo water pipe fountain out of some of the extra bamboo I had.  It was so easy to make and adds so much to the garden I highly recommend building one of these.  The details are in the books but I will be posting my own instructional soon so sign up for our RSS Feed and stay tuned.

Here are a few pictures of the finished upgrades.

Bamboo fountain falling into stone.

In this picture you can see the little terra cotta soldier with the Buddha sitting in meditation.    You can also see the borders have changed.  I used the cheap landscape timbers you can get at Lowe’s or Home Depot.  I think they are close to $2.00 / each at 8’ long.  I cut them  into sections and set them in the ground as you can see in the picture.  This makes a great border and very inexpensive to do.

If you have any questions please leave a comment, I will be happy to answer any questions you might have.  This is a great project and certainly gives you an incredible look to any garden.