Japanese Garden (part 4)

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

Japanese garden: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4.

• Japanese garden in the northern hemisphere
• How to start creating a Japanese-style garden?
• Perfect Japanese garden

Japanese garden in the northern hemisphere

So, we tried to create a miniature Japanese garden - our first bonkei.

Here is how the French poet and diplomat Paul Claudel described his sensations from looking at the "forest" of six maple-bonsai, who literally froze to the spot in front of the master's work, deep in thought: "Looking at this deciduous tree, I could not help imagining myself in a maple grove. I thought I could hear the chirping of birds on the branches."

Perhaps you have a similar feeling when looking at your miniature garden. But maybe over time you will decide to create a Japanese garden not in miniature, but in full size, and not on a tray, but on your summer cottage. Then the knowledge gained when creating bonkei will be very useful to you. Of course, the mild climate of the Japanese Islands is significantly different from our frosty winters, but the harmonious beauty of the Japanese garden is so impressive that similar gardens are being created in various countries, including the countries of the northern hemisphere.

So, Japanese gardens began to be created in the UK, USA and other countries, already starting in the 1860s. One of the main traditions that persists in Japanese gardens is the attitude to the changes that occur to plants and landscapes in the garden as the seasons change. The Japanese garden is beautiful and well-groomed in any season, even in snowy and frosty winters, which is apparently one of the main factors that made the Japanese garden so popular all over the world. Recently, Japanese garden architects have been promoting the principle of adapting the traditions of Japanese gardens to different climatic conditions. To do this, when creating a Japanese garden, take into account the annual rainfall, temperature drops and soil type.

All of these factors determine the types of plants that can be used to create a Japanese garden. Therefore, Japanese architects suggest planting plants that not only correspond to the climatic conditions of the area where the garden is located, but also originate from this area, as the most adapted and able to survive in local conditions. One of the important factors that determines the choice of plants is the type of water used for irrigation in a given area. The use of plants that originate from the area where the garden is located will significantly reduce the amount of water required for irrigation, which is important, say, in conditions of its lack.

How to start creating a Japanese-style garden?

Believe in better days!

The plum tree believes: It will

bloom in the spring.

Matsuo Base (1644-1694)

(Translated by Vladimir Sokolov)

First, you need to decide what type of Japanese garden you would like to create on your site, which elements of the Japanese garden you are going to place there and what plants to plant. Usually, many different elements are placed in Japanese gardens, so you need to decide if your site has enough space to accommodate at least a pond or stream with a bridge over it and some trees. Smaller plants can be placed around these basic elements of your garden. Then you need to draw a plan of the garden, taking into account the shape of the site and its relief.

The next step will be the formation or design of a pond, stream or waterfall. Water elements must be placed before all others due to the fact that they will take up a significant part of the garden space. In addition, the size of the pond will also dictate the power of the water pump, which is needed so that the water gurgles in the stream and does not stagnate in the pond. But, if you do not have the opportunity to create a real pond or stream, then these elements can be recreated from fine blue or gray gravel, giving the "channel" of such a stream or pond the appropriate shape. In the middle of the pond, you can create an island on which you can plant a tree, a bush or put a lantern.

If you decide to release Japanese koi carps, which are an important element of the Japanese garden pond, into a real pond, do not forget to install a suitable pump so that the water in the pond remains saturated with oxygen. The depth of the pond for koi carp should be at least 50 cm. There are several subspecies of koi carp, which come in different colors. Usually, small carps are purchased, which are best released during the warmest season. If koi carps live in large bodies of water and are well fed, they can grow to a large size. Therefore, the number of carps in the pond must be monitored to match the desired size of the carp, and remember that in winter, large carps are more likely to survive.

When the temperature drops to + 10 … + 5 ° C, carps need a special feeding regime and an easily digestible feed, and at temperatures below + 5 ° C, the digestion process of koi carps slows down, and feeding should be suspended. At a temperature of + 4 ° C, which will be maintained after the formation of ice (up to 10 cm thick) on the surface of the pond, koi carp hibernate. In the northern latitudes, carp will have to be hibernated and the water heated with special equipment. In general, breeding koi carps in a pond is a separate art!

Not forgetting about the free space, covered with sand or gravel, then you will need to choose a place to place a group of large stones, the number of which should always be odd. When placing stones, place them so that the stones are stable. To do this, they should be placed on the wider side, dipping about a third into the ground or sand. In addition, you can put smaller stones under the large stone so that the large stone does not stagger. Typically, a lower, rounded stone and a flat stone are placed near or near a tall vertical stone.

After that, you need to determine where the paths will pass. To give the garden a traditional touch, you will need to place bridges, lanterns, benches by the water or under a tree, a bamboo fountain and a bathing bowl, a gazebo, an arch or a hedge with climbing plants. A small stone pagoda or a large Buddhist bell used during meditation will give great decorativeness. You will also need to lay paths from stones of irregular shape. The paths do not have to be comfortable for brisk walking, as the Japanese garden is meant for seclusion and reflection.

In a Japanese garden, it is best to plant evergreens that will delight the eye with bright colors at any time of the year. These are various varieties of thuja, juniper, larch and, above all, pine, which is the main tree of the Japanese garden.

Pine trees are found in Japan at every turn, at almost every gate of a Japanese garden. The pine tree symbolizes good luck and longevity and is the emblem of immutability. At weddings, you can see two vases standing side by side with almost identical pine branches stretching towards each other. In one of the vases there is a branch with female strobiles, and in the second - with male ones, while the “female” branch is slightly lower than the “male” one. These branches symbolize an eternal union, a commonwealth in love, which is achieved by spouses who have lived in a happy marriage for many years.

There are up to 125 species of pines that grow in the Northern Hemisphere up to the Arctic Circle. The different varieties of pines vary in size, ranging from tall trees to shrub-like trees such as the cedar elfin. Pine is undemanding to soil and can grow in marginal soils, where many other trees cannot grow. This is due to the fact that pine has a superficial type of root system, which can develop in a thin (1-2 cm) layer of fertile soil lying on the sands. Many varieties of pine are widely used in bonsai trees.

Deciduous trees include oak, birch, elm and aspen. And, of course, it is impossible to imagine a Japanese garden without cherry blossoms, which can be replaced by those varieties of cherry trees, as well as cherry plums that grow in cold climates. Blooming apple and plum trees are no less colorful, which can also be harmoniously placed in your garden. Groups of bushes should be planted next to the trees: hawthorns, thuja, sod, brilliant cotoneaster, as well as hydrangeas, barberries, steppe almonds, forsythia, lilacs, mock-mushrooms, and, of course, Japanese kerria and Japanese quince.

From citrus fruits, you can choose the round kumquat (Fortunella japonica), which, being a Japanese evergreen shrub up to 2.5 m high, can withstand temperatures down to + 4 … -10 ° С. However, the round kumquat stops growing if the temperature drops below + 13 ° C, although it is desirable to keep the plant at higher temperatures, as then the fruit will taste sweeter. The fruits are rich in pectin, so they are used to make jam and jelly, but they are also consumed raw.

Another citrus plant from Japan - yuzu (Citrus junos), whose fruits are used in Japanese cuisine in the same way as lemon fruits, can withstand a decrease in temperature to -4 ° C. The peel of yuzu fruit contains oil that has a peculiar aroma. In Japan, there is a tradition of taking a bath with yuzu fruits on the winter solstice. The fruits are cut in half or whole, put in a bag and placed in hot water.

At the end of planting work, it will be necessary to plant ground cover plants such as arabis or rezuha, aubrieta or aubretia, sedum or sedum. Different varieties of saponaria blooming with colorful flowers and evergreen low-growing periwinkle bushes will look good. You can plant different ground cover plants that will have different flowering times. In the same way, you should select bushes, trees and flowers that can be planted in pots or on small "islands" near a hedge, stream or hill. Rocks and stone elements can be planted with moss that grows on the north side of stones and stone lanterns. Stone lanterns are very rarely lit in Japanese gardens, as they are mainly used for lighting in temple gardens. But they look colorful at any time of the year thanks to their shape and the amber or green mosses growing on them.

Mosses and lichens occupy a special place in the Japanese garden, being the main element of the garden in certain types of gardens called moss gardens. A carpet of mosses such as dark green cuckoo flax (Polytrichum) and yellow-green leucobryum (Leucobryum) are eye-catching in color, absorb noise and have a soothing effect. Lichens grow slowly and select rocky rocks, tree bark, pine needles, rot, as well as glass, metal and plastic items. Lack of light inhibits the growth of lichens, and excess - enhances the brightness of their color. Lichens are frost and drought tolerant plants. And what is especially important for those interested in the ecology of the surrounding space, some lichens (such as Lobaria pulmonaria) can serve as an indicator of air purity. Mosses and lichens make up for the lack of bright colors in early spring, when the buds have not yet blossomed, and in late autumn, when flowers wither and leaves fall on trees.

Perfect Japanese garden

It would seem that the answer to the question of what a Japanese garden is is simple: it is a garden created according to the Japanese national tradition. The great designer of the Japanese garden, Kobori-Enshu (1579-1647), believed that the ideal garden should be "… the sweet seclusion of the landscape in the haze of moonlight with twilight between the trees."

British architect Josiah Conder, considered the father of modern Japanese architecture by the Japanese, was one of the first Europeans to say that the aesthetics of Japanese gardens can be applied outside of Japan. Having designed dozens of public buildings in Japan, in 1893 he wrote that the Japanese method reveals aesthetic principles that make it possible to turn into a poem or painting a mixture that, with all the variety of details, is devoid of unity and meaning.

Thanks to this method, the Japanese garden, being an object of landscape design, has risen to the level of a work of art, in which everyone will discover something that they need. For some, it can become a place to contemplate the unusual shape of stones, curved arches of bridges, artistically placed plants and babbling streams. For another, the garden can become a kind of earthly paradise, a place for solitude, meditation and restoration of vitality. Someone will be able to discern hidden symbolism in it, revealing the secrets of the universe, and join the wisdom of the ancients. But for all of us, the Japanese garden will serve as a daily source of creative inspiration and aesthetic satisfaction that we can bring to our home and garden.