When I decided to create my Japanese Garden, I wanted to be sure that I incorporated not only my ideas based on Japanese and other Asian gardens I had visited, but also elements which were true to authentic Asian gardens worldwide.
I have visited various Asian based gardens in the United States, Japan, China and Australia and each of these gardens had a number of similarities that I felt I would be able to replicate in my own garden. The concern I had going into the project was that the gardens I have visited were all very large. I wanted to get some ideas of how I could re-create the visual experiences I had, in the space I had available for my garden considering it would be significantly smaller than those I had visited.
I also wanted to get ideas of perspective and materials selection which is something that very important in Japanese gardens.
For my research I began by using Google to search for keyword strings like “Japanese Gardens in small spaces” & Small Japanese Gardens”. Ultimately my searching led to 3 books which I choose to purchase, each have some attribute that I felt could be helpful.
The three books I purchased:
Japanese Gardening in Small Spaces by Isao Yoshikawa: This publication is more of a practical detailing of constructing the Japanese elements that the other of the two books I purchased. The first part of the book covers the elements of the Garden including stones and gravel, lanterns, water basins, plants and fences. This section is very detailed and extremely helpful. The first section of the book also contains some great photos of small gardens. The second section of the book, which is in black and white, covers in great detail and sketching, the constructing of your garden from planting to fence building. Finally, sketches of the garden photos shown earlier in the book are detailed with descriptions of their individual elements.
Creating Your Own Japanese Garden by Takashi Sawano: This books some good information on the historical background and element of Japanese Gardens in addition to some good plans that you can use to incorporate into your own space. The only drawback to this publication is that the photos are small but they are still very informative. I also like the mix of both large and small garden illustrations.
Creative Japanese Gardens by Ortho Books: This is a great starter book which provides a lot of great pictures and great data on design, elements, fences, lanterns etc. It also had a very good plant section which includes planting zone information so you can correctly select plants that will grow in your particular part of the country. Overall this is a great reference book.
Up to this point, I’ve used each of the three books equally as they all provide very good data and some excellent images but as I get further into the actual physically appearance and selecting of material for my garden, I will update this blog as to which I used most frequently.
Here are the links to Amazon:
GARDEN BEAUTIFUL 