Rock Garden | Landscaping Design

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If you want your garden to provide a sense of peace and tranquility, adding some simple Japanese style landscaping ideas will make your goal easy to accomplish. Whether you have a small patio garden or a huge landscape, you can incorporate Japanese style elements into your garden.

In general, Japanese style gardens do not contains a huge variety of plants or a rainbow of color. They are not perfectly symmetrical, nor lavish. They are, however, elegant and timeless and bring a welcomed break from the hustle and bustle of daily life in the modern world. They are places for meditation, contemplation, and thought. This style of garden is enclosed or screened from the outside world through the use of plants, fences, or berms.

Scale And Perspective

Look at the space you wish to use for your Japanese style garden. Scale and perspective are the main techniques used to create a sense of size, space and distance in the garden. You can achieve this through illusion, adding a false sense of perspective, by planting gradually smaller trees or plants farther from the focal point of the garden. If you have water features in your garden, choose the largest for the foreground. Water fountains or a water fall can be a very affordable way to add a peaceful sound to your Japanese style garden.

Add Japanese lanterns and pagodas to your garden, but be sure they are in proportion to the plants and other elements surrounding them.

Rocks in a Japanese style garden take on special meaning. They aren't simply rocks or boulders but can be the backbone of your garden, around which other elements will fall into place. They represent islands, mountains, and holy places. A boulder can be partially buried to add mass, height, and a feeling of stability to the Japanese garden. Small stones can be used as the borders for pathways or to create the bottoms of water features. They can be used as stepping stones to actually create a path or to cross a small stream. If used to define a pathway, allow the path to wander rather than going in a straight line.

Sentinel Stone

Another use of stone in the [Japanese] style garden is the sentinel stone. This standing stone is used to symbolize warriors, deities, heroes and guardians. It is usually found at the entrance to a Japanese garden or at a major focal point where its presence will enhance the garden's atmosphere. This type of stone can even be used in an otherwise flat Japanese landscape.

Choose a few Japanese style elements to include in your garden landscape to provide a peaceful place to sit and relax. An austere garden can easily be converted into a Japanese style garden with very low cost and a huge payoff in enjoyment.

Japanese style garden

Filed under Rock Garden by landscapeliving.

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Every yard has trouble spots. You know, the place where nothing seems to grow, despite your best efforts. It might be a spot thatâ€™s very dry, shady, wet, hilly or just about any other condition of excess that makes it difficult to plant and maintain. A rock garden can be an excellent solution for your trouble spots.

A rock garden isnâ€™t simply a pile of rocks dumped on an otherwise barren area. There is planning (and planting) involved to design a successful rock garden. Before we dig in, so to speak, youâ€™ll need to consider the location of your rock garden.

Many people start rock gardens because they already have a rocky area in their yard. The previous owners of my house got me started thinking about a rock garden when they dumped a bunch of rocks next to the air conditioner. Itâ€™s also a shady spot, so thereâ€™s not a lot that will grow there. This spot could be a good place for a rock garden.

A slope or hill that is eroding is another good choice for a rock garden because you can build in terraces that will help hold the soil in place. But rock gardens can also be built where the ground is flat.

Choosing Rock Types

If you donâ€™t already have rocks to use in your rock garden, youâ€™ll want to start by choosing (and buying, if necessary) some rocks. In my area there is a lot of native limestone, sandstone and shale, so if I didnâ€™t already have rocks I would probably try to find some native stone to use, since this would look the most natural.

If you donâ€™t know what stones are native to your area, make friends with a farmer. He or she will be glad to let you â€œharvestâ€ some rocks for your garden. Just remember to ask permission first. You can also find rocks at garden supply stores or landscaping stores.

Once youâ€™ve decided on the rock you want to use in your rock garden, youâ€™ll need to start defining your space. A rock garden can be any size you like, though a smaller one is probably good to start with. Making a raised bed rock garden is a wonderful idea in flat trouble spots because you can improve the soil easily and you donâ€™t have to clear the area of any grass or weeds that are already growing

Choose Your Space

Simply spread out a thick layer of newspaper over the space you want for your rock garden and cover it with soil. Then just lay out the stones for the perimeter of your rock garden and fill the interior area with soil. The plants that are traditionally used in rock gardens like soil that drains well, so if you have clayey soil, add sand and compost to allow it to drain a little better.

After you have this first set of rocks in place, you might want to add a second â€œlayer,â€ following the outline of the first. You could also just add a few more rocks around the edges and in amid the plants once you have planted the rock garden.

Speaking of which, what can you plant in your rock garden? Your lighting availability will largely dictate what you can plant, but the most common plants used in rock gardens are low to the ground, have interesting foliage, small flowers and like well-drained, even dry soil. If I lived in the west I would plant cacti in my rock garden. Because I donâ€™t, a ground cover that does well in shade might be the best bet for me

Don't Limit Yourself

. Donâ€™t limit yourself to plants you wouldnâ€™t use in the rest of your garden, but do consider planting a rock garden as an opportunity to try new plants. If you arenâ€™t sure what will grow best in your rock garden, ask someone who works at your local garden center.

When planting your rock garden, consider the â€œrulesâ€ of good design: symmetry, a focal point, odd numbers. Or just select and plant your plants wherever you like. Remember that this is a rock garden, so you can add rocks to the design as you plant. The idea is that the plants are almost popping out of the rocks, so donâ€™t be afraid to add rocks to the design. Save your prettiest rocks for this part as they will be the most noticeable.

As your plants grow they will climb on the rocks and the rocks themselves will weather, so it will all begin to look like a natural part of the landscape. And donâ€™t forget that you can even â€œmulchâ€ with small rocks to prevent weeds and keep your rock garden looking great.

While a rock garden might not be the perfect solution for every landscaping problem, it can be a lifesaver or just an interesting addition to your at-home environment.