Japanese gardens are designed to be natural, tranquil retreats from the outside world. Trees, evergreen shrubs, rocks and sculptural features are placed with precision to create a balanced garden that looks good all year round.
Japanese garden design is both inspired by nature and seeks to tame the natural world. Trickling waterfalls, clipped topiary, precisely placed rocks and evergreen plants create a miniature Japanese landscape, with ponds acting as lakes and boulders forming mountains.
Ranging from tiny courtyard gardens to vast parks, Japanese garden styles are varied but incorporate similar design principles to create a distinctive look. If you want to create a tranquil haven that brings order to nature’s chaos or you’re struggling to know what to do with a small, shaded courtyard, a Japanese garden may be the design style for you.
Key features of a Japanese garden
Whether your garden is small or large, north-facing or with a southerly aspect, follow these principles to design a Japanese-inspired garden:
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Create an asymmetrical design: Avoid central focal points as these are seen as overbearing. Use triangular shapes (boulders, plants, trees) and a mix of horizontal and vertical elements to balance the design.
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Focus on curves: Incorporate sweeping curved paths, arched bridges, cloud trees and sinuous beds – there are few straight lines in a Japanese garden.
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Plant evergreens and perennials: Japanese gardens are designed to deliver year-round colour.
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Take a minimalist approach: Choose plants and structural features purposefully, rather than simply to fill space.
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Incorporate water: Flowing and still water help create a tranquil, naturalist environment. Water basins, used for both practical and decorative purposes are a common feature of Japanese gardens.
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Conceal parts of the garden: Japanese gardens are designed to reveal their secrets as you walk through them. Meandering paths should lead to different viewpoints and parts of the garden. In small gardens, the path itself can create concealment; a series of rock steps forces you to watch your footing – when you look up again, the vista has changed.
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Use perspective: Place larger rocks or trees in the foreground and smaller objects further back to create the illusion of distance.
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Incorporate symbolism: Japanese gardens often include symbolic elements, though these are not always religious. Pine trees are a symbol of stability and longevity, whereas plum and cherry trees represent life’s fleeting nature.
Japanese garden styles
The Japanese Garden Society identifies five styles of Japanese gardens, each with distinctive characteristics. Smaller gardens typically stick to one of these designs, but large gardens will often incorporate multiple styles.
Japanese rock garden (Zen garden)
Japanese dry landscape gardens are often associated with Zen temples, though they are also a common small Japanese garden design. They’re typically designed to be viewed from a building rather than entered and often use the landscape beyond the garden boundary as part of the design – a concept known as “borrowed scenery” (shakkei).
Raked sand or gravel represents water flowing around islands of moss. Rocks and topiary are added as vertical elements to balance the design. The minimalistic style is designed to create a peaceful space for meditation and contemplation.
This low-maintenance Japanese garden design is a great choice for small front gardens and courtyard spaces. Avoid if you have small children or pets who will delight in disturbing your perfectly raked gravel. It’s also not ideal if you have deciduous trees nearby, as falling leaves make it difficult to keep the garden looking neat.
Recreate the look at home:
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Place vertical features, such as tall rocks and trees, at a diagonal angle from your main viewpoint to create an asymmetrical design.
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Use curves rather than straight lines for a natural feel.
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Rake “waves” into your sand or gravel for texture.
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Keep planting simple and minimalist – choose boxwood topiary balls or a single pine tree.
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If you want to walk in the garden, create a path with stepping stones to avoid disturbing the raked gravel.
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Imagine your garden is a miniature landscape – add “bridges” across gravel streams or create a hidden valley between towering boulders.
Tea garden
At its simplest, a Japanese tea garden consists of a winding path (roji) leading to a tea house. You want to feel as if you’re walking away from the outer world, through a woodland or mountain glade, to an inner sanctum.
Stone lanterns break up the evergreen planting scheme, with a water basin for ritual cleansing. A tea house, or cha-shitsu, is a place for contemplation and reflection as well as a location for tea ceremonies. Incorporating a small shelter at the end of your garden allows you to sit and enjoy your morning cuppa, whatever the weather.
This Japanese garden design suits any size of garden. It works particularly well with long, narrow gardens, but even in a small garden, careful planting can give you the feel of making a journey.
Recreate the look at home:
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Create a winding stepping-stone path that leads to a hidden tea house.
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Opt for naturalistic planting, choosing trees, shrubs and perennial plants over colourful annuals.
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Use dense evergreens such as azaleas and rhododendrons to conceal parts of the garden.
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Add height with trees such as Carpinus japonica (Japanese hornbeam) and Acer 'Seiryu'.
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Choose moss over grass as groundcover to give a woodland feel.
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Add sculptural elements such as a water basin and stone lanterns.
Pond & island garden
The oldest style of Japanese garden has an expansive design centred around a large pond or lake, with a backdrop of mounds or raised ground representing hills or mountains. The ponds are large enough to feature islands (traditionally considered sacred spaces), which are often connected to the shore by bridges.
Pond and island gardens are designed to be enjoyed both from a building or buildings and while walking around the landscape. These large, mature gardens feature a wide range of trees and flowering plants.
While few homes in the UK have gardens large enough to accommodate a boating lake, you can recreate the feel of these gardens at home with a more manageable sized pond. You may even choose to recreate a classic Japanese landscape in miniature.
Recreate the look at home:
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Design your garden based on the vista from your main viewpoint (likely a porch, large window or conservatory).
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Centre the design around a large pond and position pebbles and rocks around the water to give the appearance of beaches or coastline.
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Use perspective to create the illusion of a larger body of water by shaping your pond so it is wider in the foreground and narrows further back. Alternatively, you could bring the pond right up to the building, so it feels like you’re right on top of the water.
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Add some small islands – these could simply be a large rock or a small mound with a single tree.
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Plant mature trees to give a wooded feel. If your garden backs onto trees, you can incorporate these into the design as “borrowed scenery”.
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Add an arbor or pavilion as a secondary viewing point for the garden and train a wisteria over it for a burst of colour in late spring.
Strolling garden
Like pond and island gardens, Japanese stroll gardens are typically larger than average and include water as a central feature. The main difference lies in where the garden is designed to be viewed from. In a pond and island garden, the main viewpoint is from a fixed location, whereas in a stroll garden, the garden is designed from the perspective of someone walking through it.
The key element of a strolling garden is discovery. Different layers and aspects of a garden should unfold as you walk through it. Depending on the size of your garden, you may have one path or several, with places to stop and admire the view along the way. Although many large strolling gardens have a path around a small lake, in a smaller garden, you could scale this down to a pond or a path alongside a tumbling stream.
When designing a strolling garden, it should be impossible to view the garden in its entirety from your home. Use careful planting, level changes and structures to conceal parts of the garden and plan your route to revisit key features from different perspectives. This design style can work well in terraced gardens as the changes in height add interest and allow you to create different zones to your garden.
Recreate the look at home:
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Lay out your paths first, to set the structure for the rest of the garden. Creating an uneven surface or using stepping stones forces the walker to slow down and focus on the landscape.
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Consider how best to incorporate water into the design. In some gardens, a pond will work best; in others a stream or series of waterfalls will fit more naturally into the existing landscape. You can also use gravel to represent water in the garden.
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Include small bridges, hidden statues and a concealed arbor to surprise and delight the viewer.
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Use a naturalistic planting scheme but don’t overcomplicate it or try to add too many different species – even in the strolling garden, simplicity is key.
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Plant Japanese maples like Acer 'Atropurpureum' and Acer 'Orange Dream' to frame features and give an airy feel, alongside more structured topiary such as Japanese cloud trees.
Courtyard garden
If you’re looking for small Japanese garden ideas, take inspiration from traditional courtyard gardens (tsubo-niwa). These gardens are often less than 11 square feet in size and are often located in the centre of the home. Homes in the UK are rarely designed around a garden space, but the principles of this design can easily be applied to small urban gardens and north-facing courtyards.
Courtyard gardens are typically enclosed and can be viewed from different vantage points, including from first-floor windows. Planting is minimal, and designed for low light levels – think moss and ferns with one or two specimen trees. Add rocks and sculptures strategically, so as not to overwhelm the space. Japanese courtyard gardens can be dry, with gravel or sand representing water, or include a water basin or other small water feature.
Due to its size and the less-is-more principle, the courtyard garden is a low-maintenance Japanese garden design.
Recreate the look at home:
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Keep your design simple with one or two focal points, such as a water feature, sculpture or tree.
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Create a sense of enclosure with tall walls or fences.
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Choose plants based on the amount of natural light your garden receives. Japanese lace fern (Polystichum polyblepharum), box and Japanese camellias such as Camellia 'Bonomiana' are good options for shaded or north-facing gardens.
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Position rocks and plants to create a varied miniature landscape.
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Bring the outside into your home with sliding doors that open into the courtyard garden.
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Incorporate water or the illusion of water. The sound of running water or a fountain can add an extra sense of tranquility and help mask any external noise.
Choosing plants for a Japanese garden
Japanese gardens typically feature a mix of trees, evergreen shrubs and perennial plants. Some styles are more minimalist than others, but all use plants with contrasting textures, structures and colours (including shades of green) to create visual impact. Evergreen plants are prioritised over colourful annuals to create a sense of permanence and year-round colour.
Choose a mix of plants to balance the horizontal and vertical elements in your garden. Japanese maples pruned into a classic umbrella shape offer both these elements and are a distinctive addition to any Japanese garden. Topiary is also a common feature, particularly the traditional “cloud trees”, which are typically pine trees pruned to resemble a set of clouds.
It’s also important to choose plants that will thrive in your garden. Some Japanese garden plants, including azaleas, rhododendrons and camellias, need ericaceous soil to thrive. Mix ericaceous compost into your border before planting or grow smaller varieties in pots. There are plenty of shade-loving Japanese plants to choose from – in fact, you may have more trouble selecting plants for a garden that has full sun.
Top 10 Japanese Garden Plants
When choosing Japanese plants for your garden, it’s important to select varieties that suit your local climate. Fortunately, there are many hardy plants that grow well in the UK, including trees, flowering shrubs and ferns. Here are some of our top plants for a Japanese-style garden in the UK:
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Acer 'Osakazuki' has attractive bright-green leaves that turn scarlet in the autumn. It’s shade-tolerant and would be a beautiful centerpiece for a smaller garden.
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Prunus 'Shōgetsu', also known as the Blushing Bride, is a flowering cherry tree with delicate link double flowers that turn white.
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Athyrium 'Metallicum' (Japanese painted fern) is a gorgeous deciduous fern with striking silver-green leaves that are laced with purple.
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Azalea 'Orange Beauty' is an evergreen azalea with bright orange flowers. It’s compact and can be planted in pots, making it a good option for a small garden or shaded courtyard.
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Hosta ‘Patriot’ is a shade-loving plant with variegated leaves and spikes of lavender-blue flowers. The young shoots of hostas are a traditional food in Japan.
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Pieris 'Valley Valentine' is an evergreen shrub that produces clusters of bell-shaped maroon flowers in mid-spring.
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Camellia 'Princess Baciocchi' blooms in later winter with large, crimson double flowers that stand out against the dark green leaves.
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The Japanese Aralia (Fatsia japonica) is a tropical-looking evergreen shrub with sparsely branched stems and large palmately lobed leaves.
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Japanese forest grass (Hakonechloa macra) has bright green leaves that turn red-brown in autumn. It’s a slow spreader that’s a good option for ground cover.
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Skimmia 'Rubella' has dark-green evergreen foliage. Delicate red buds appear in late winter followed by white flowers in spring.
FAQ
What’s a low-maintenance Japanese garden design?
Courtyard gardens and Japanese rock gardens (sometimes called Zen gardens) are small and relatively low maintenance. Japanese gardens tend to be minimalist when it comes to plants and feature evergreen shrubs and perennials rather than annuals. However, raked dry gravel gardens may be higher maintenance than you think, especially if your garden gets covered with leaves from surrounding trees or you have wandering children or pets who may disturb the design.
How can I design a Japanese garden in a small space?
Take inspiration from traditional Japanese courtyard gardens (known as tsubo-niwa). These tiny shaded gardens have a minimalist design, with either gravel or moss as ground cover and rocks and small, shaped shrubs as vertical elements. A water feature or single tree, such as an acer, gives a focal point.
Where can I visit Japanese gardens in the UK?
The Japanese garden at Cowden is a seven-acre stroll garden near Dollar in Scotland. It features a large pond, bridges and a dry garden. Tatton Park’s Japanese garden in Cheshire is an example of a Japanese tea garden and one of the finest Japanese gardens in Europe. Other notable gardens include the Japanese garden at Hammersmith Park, Holland Park’s Kyoto Garden and the Japanese garden at Compton Acres in Dorset.
References:
Japanese Garden Society, Japanese Garden Styles
Wheeler, J. “A Brief Look at the Basics of Japanese Garden Design”. Shakkei, Vol. 13 No 1 Summer 2006
