Japanese Water Gardens

Creating Japanese water gardens in your own back garden is a wonderful Zen like experience for many people.  Is this something you want to do? And if you do, where do you even think about starting a water garden let alone pulling together a full garden design that incorporate the elements of a truly Zen style area for reflection and harmony? How do you choose from basket after basket of seeds, catalog after catalog and rows upon rows of nursery seedlings?  How do you find the right lattice work, the right furniture or even the right lighting?

Follow this guide to creating your own version of the latest in truly beautiful Japanese water gardens:

 1. Do your homework - borrow books from the library or use the Internet to find elements of Japanese water gardens that you want to incorporate into your own design

 2. Plan out your own garden to scale on a sheet of graph or design paper – then you will be able to work out the measurements for latticework, furniture, grasses, lighting , an entertainment or Zen area and how many shrubs or seeds you need to plant

 3. Try to incorporate vegetable produce that you enjoy eating – don’t bother with vegetables that look impressive but won’t ever be consumed at your table because that way your Japanese water gardens benefits will also extend to feeding your family not just giving you’re a wonderful space in which to relax and entertain

 4. Examine your garden carefully before planting anything and ensure that when selecting areas for planting shrubs, flowers or seeds that you opt for a plot of flat ground that gets full sun nearly all day (unless some plants you have chosen to incorporate into your garden don’t need full sun)

 5. Purchase your seeds and bulbs for flowers at nurseries or by mail order through catalogs.  Also opt for smaller plants and shrubs as they will far cheaper for you, if you are working to a budget