How to turn your backyard into a Zen garden?
Zen Garden Design Boulders and large stones stand in for islands. Many Zen gardens are also enclosed by walls. If you don’t have an enclosed garden space, use a bamboo screen, fence panel or lattice fence around your garden, or on at least one side. If you enclose the garden completely, add a gate for easy access. Keep your Zen garden free from debris like fallen leaves, twigs, or weeds. These can accumulate quickly, especially if you have trees or plants around. By routinely removing debris, you’ll preserve the clean, minimalist look of your garden, a key aspect of traditional Japanese garden ideas.Moss is an excellent ground cover for a shady area. Although authenic Zen gardens are typically dry landscapes, consider adding sand, gravel and a few plants around a small water feature, such as a fountain, or use a pond kit. If it’s large enough, a pond could hold one or more lotus or other water plants.
What plants to put in a Zen garden?
If plants are used, Misty adds, “they’re usually chosen for simplicity, subtle color and seasonal beauty rather than bright flowers. She recommends mosses, ferns, evergreens like pines and junipers, bamboo, maple trees, azaleas, camellias, topiaries and native or imported grasses. Instead, incorporate plants that provide a mix of textures in shades of green, like mosses, ferns, hostas, and evergreen shrubs or trees. Select a specimen plant as a focal point in the garden that provides four seasons of beauty.
What is the best rock for a Zen garden?
Japanese Zen gardens traditionally use crushed granite, basalt, limestone, and weathered fieldstones to represent natural elements like mountains and islands. Though often referred to as “sand,” most Zen gardens use fine gravel or crushed stone. Unlike flower-filled perennial borders, the zen garden is reduced to bare essentials—sand and rocks and a limited plant palette. These sparse elements help one avoid distractions while stimulating meditation.
What are the 7 principles of a Zen garden?
Zen gardens are structured around seven guiding principles: Austerity (Koko), Simplicity (Kanso), Naturalness (Shinzen), Asymmetry (Fukinsei), Mystery or Subtlety (Yugen), Magical or Unconventional (Datsuzoku) and Stillness (Seijaku). Your Zen garden should promote most or all of these concepts. The article concentrates on the seven principles identified by Hisamatsu (1971) in his classic text Zen and the Fine Arts: kanso (simplicity); fukinsei (asymmetry); koko (austere sublimity); shizen (naturalness); daisuzoku (freedom from routine); sei-jaku (tranquillity); and yūgen (profound grace).