Step 12 – Plants – GARDEN BEAUTIFUL

Probably the most important part of my project was plant selection and placement. It was important to me to pick plants that not only provided some level of authenticity to a traditional Japanese garden but would also survive the southern California sun and summer heat. Given the planting zones falling in the 9-11 range certain “traditional” Japanese garden plants were simply going to be off limits for me but the fact that my side yard was in a “part sun” spot, I would have some opportunities to incorporate Ferns and Maples. The balance of my plants would be picked by my taking liberties selecting plants and color that I thought would make for a interesting mix.

My selection process started by first utilizing my reference material (to understand the traditional Japanese garden plant, trees and shrubs and then several visits to the local nursery to gain additional insight and opinions. Luckily, the San Gabriel Nursery, which has a great selection of Japanese garden plants, is close to my home and provided me with a great resource for both research and acquisition of plants.

My picks:

Trees

Japanese Maple – Traditional – Growing well but needs protection from the hottest times of the year. Trends to green very quickly due to the California sun exposure which is a shame given its very pretty red color during the early spring. Still a great addition

Flowering Cherry – Traditional Cherry Blossom tree

Caribbean Copper Tree – Non Traditional – Great tree/tall shrub which produces a really pretty copper colored leaf. Seems to do well in a sun or partial sun environment and isn’t very dense which matches nicely with the Maple.

Bamboo

Golden – This worked out well since I was planting in containers I didn’t need to worry about my yard being overrun with bamboo given its very invasive nature.