’11 Simple Ways To Turn Your Garden Japanese’ from Making A Japanese Garden Dot Com

Posted on February 20, 2013 by making a japanese garden

Hi,
Thanks for visiting makingajapanesegarden.com.

If you have always wanted or dreamt of a Japanese style garden space for your home whether indoors or outdoors then I have some great news for you. Launched today is my new FREE book ’11 Simple Ways To Turn Your Garden Japanese’ and this short video will tell you more. Take a look!

To find out more and how you can make your Japanese garden dream a reality without breaking the bank! CLICK HERE for your complimentary copy and free membership to ‘The Japanese Garden Bulletin’ our weekely new newsletter for fans of Japanese gardens and making a Japanese garden.

The Japanese Garden Bulletin NEW Newsletter – Listen To What It’s About…

Posted on January 15, 2013 by making a japanese garden

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Hii,

Thanks for stopping by making a Japanese garden dot com.

In a very short while I am launching an exciting, interesting and inspiring newsletter on Japanese gardens …it will be totally free and take a listen to my little message about the service I am providing for Japanese garden enthusiasts.

CLICK on the audio players ‘Arrow’ to LISTEN

Happy New Year From ALL Of Us At Making A Japanese Garden Dot Com

Posted on January 3, 2013 by making a japanese garden

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Thank you for visiting our website that is all about giving you useful information and tips for making a Japanese garden. There is a lot of very informative and helpful information on this website that will help turn your small or large space at home whether indoors or outdoors into a space with a touch of Japan.

We wish all our readers a very Happy New Year and a HEALTHY and inspiring 2013!

We are starting a FREE Japanese garden NEWSLETTER at the end of January called the ‘Japanese Garden Bulletin’.

You can sign up for free to ensure that you recieve a massive amount of Japanese garden and Zen garden information at this website , where you can read more about the sort of information we will be providing in our ‘Japanese Garden Bulletin’ newsletter.

We never share your email with anyone else or any third parties and you can unsubscribe at ANY time with a click of your mouse or a tap on your smatphone or tablet!

We really look forward to sending your our newsletter CLICK HERE to SIGN UP

Making A Japanese Garden – A Little Inspiration Goes A Long Way…

Posted on November 12, 2012 by making a japanese garden

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If you are thinking of making a Japanese garden and want to turn your rear garden or yard into a calming and peaceful area then you are joining a growing band of like minded people all over the world.

Japanese gardens and Zen gardens are in vogue and this website has been set up specifically to give you a little inspiration for your dream project!

A little honesty first though. Making a Japanese garden is not something that you can do with any degree of success or the right results in a weekend and it WILL take up quite a lot of maintenance time but if you are not phased by either of these aspects then your hard work will be rewarded with a truly lovely space at your home.

More good news comes in the form of your budget. Japanese gardens can be expensive to design and build but you can construct one on a limited budget and in today’s economic climate a lot of people do you financial constraints.

One of the most cost effective ways of making a Japanese garden is to identify an area in your yard or garden, mark it out with string or cable and dig it out to a low level say approximately 4 -6 inches deep.Take precautions for weed growth and fill the area with gravel or you can use sand if you live in a dry climate.

Gravel should be ideally 8 to 10 mm in size as it is easy for raking – so you get those lovely circular swooshes and simple staright lines. Rocks can be placed in small clusters and you can use smooth rocks but taller slightly jagged ones really look striking to the eye.

I have a small space Zen garden at home with a cluster of 3 rocks and a single rock on an island surrounded by neatly trimmed grass – this gives the impression of an island in the sea. Zen gardens or Karesansui ( Dry gardens) mimic landscapes so the good news is that you can let your imagination flow!

A dry river bed is another option and you can surround this with stones and rocks and low level plants. If you desire a wooden bridge or stone bridge this would look spectacular over the bed.

Bamboo is used in Japanese gardens for space separation and fencing can be bought or made relatively inexpensively. Trees provide the ‘living’ element of the garden and have to be planted correctly, drainage has to be good and equally importantly you should only pick trees, plants and low level shrubs that will grow in your climate.

If you plant things that are risky then the chances are you will be removing them sooner than you had hoped for. Trees are central to many types of Japanese gardens and in autumn or fall they come into their own.

I shall be putting some information on this website in the very near future about which trees are perhaps best to use in non extreme European and North American climates AND most importantly what colours you can expect from them in the autumn for maximum effect in a Japanese garden.

Water features are something a lot of people desire , with or without Koi for example and this is something else that I am going to cover here on makingajapanesegarden.com in the near future.

I have launched a Japanese garden free newsletter called the ‘Japanese Garden Bulletin’ and you can register to recieve your complimentary copy featuring Japanese garden news, tips , design ideas and a LOT more just CLICK HERE

Making A Japanese Garden – Boundaries

Posted on October 22, 2012 by making a japanese garden

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However large or small Japanese gardens have at least one entrance and the simplest explanation of this is that when entering the garden you are part of a seperate world. When making a japanese garden this is something that you must consider.

If you have armarked a space for your Japanese garden then really think about this important ingredient – the entrance. Think carefully about the boundary of your garden – will it have a stone or brick wall on any of the sides, what will the shape be and where are you planning on putting plants, trees, shrubs, pathways etc.

Entrances and boundaries are ideally identified in positional terms first. I always advise the drawing of a design sletch before any construction begins. This will allow you to be very detailed and clear in your thoughts for making a Japanese garden AND will help you to reconcile your space with your plans when you are standing by your bare piece of land.

A plan really works. It crystalises your design in your minds eye and is very helpful with the placement of entrances and boundaries. Bamboo is very popular for boundaries but to keep it authentic try and use a Japanese bamboo – a lot of display Japanese gardens around the world make a big deal of Bamboo ( quite rightly) but more often than not it will be a Chinese bamboo!

Boundaries signify the end of one world and the beginning of the next – your garden. You may want a pathway leading to a gate or more than one pathway. They should alwyas be at right-angle with no smooth corners as the Japanese believe that demons need smooth corners to be able to change direction.

A path leading to a gate or from it is a great place to start planning when making a Japanese garden , look at it as the first few correct pieces in a jigsaw and you build your design and garden ingredients from there.

Boundaries can also be used bewteen different areas of your garden and bamboo fences make a simple and relatively cheap way of doing it and they are pleasing on the eye because of their authenticity.

One very important principle in Japanese gardening to consider is that everything you do in your garden in terms of design and maintenance should appear to not have been interfered with by humans – its appearance should be natural.

Making A Japanese Garden – Rewarding But Demanding Too!

Posted on October 10, 2012 by making a japanese garden

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Steve’s Tea House – made of Cedar

Hi,
Thanks for visiting my website , and hopefully I can give you some inspiration if you are thinking of making a Japanese garden. I visited a gentleman called Steve at his home to take a look at his Japanese Pond viewing garden.

It has been a labour of love for Steve who lived and worked in Japan for 7 years. On a business trip before he moved there he had a couple of hours to spare before catching a flight home and asked the concierge at the hotel if they could recommend something to do for a couple of hours.

“Do you like gardens?” the concierge asked Steve , to which he replied “Yes” and he promptly directed to look at his very first Japanese garden with its different entrances, beautifully crafted Azeleas , trees and shrubs. Rock formations and paths at right-angles.

He was struck by it’s beauty and promptly fell in love with Japanese gardens. Whilst in Japan he visited over 80 different gardens mainly in the Kyoto area and amassed a very large collection of Japanese garden textbooks and journals.

The knowledge he gained was defining in his plans for making a Japanese garden and this he did at his home in the UK. It took two years to build , is completely enclosed and has a large Koi pond which has been troublesome to say the least.

Japanese plants, trees and shrubs grow freely in his garden as the climate difference between Japan and the UK is actually not that different. As he pointed out to me some of his Acer’s in their native Japan can withstand sub-zero temperatures.

I went to film a video with Steve and to ask him all sorts of questions about his Japanese garden and its construction and will be making this chat available soon. I have to edit it first!

Steve says the most demanding part of the garden were the rocks, pond and pathways as he wanted to stay true to his original design. Like me Steve also believes very strongly that you have ‘freewill’ to go about making a Japanese garden in whatever styles or styles you wish.

His is a Pond Viewing garden BUT it has a Tea house too because he likes them. That is the key message about making a Japanese garden – add what you want and what feels right in your garden area. Don’t be intimidated by technical books after all Japanese gardens are simplicity with nature!

It was a really interesting visit and I am looking forward to letting you see the video but to wet your appetite here are some photograph’s of Steve Mazloumian’s Japanese garden!

Steve has about 8 different varieites of Acer’s in the garden

: The Moon Window – providing a peak into the garden!

A Koi Pond, Lantern and Autumn Colours!

A Zen feel to one area of the garden – note the autumn colours again.

Claim Your FREE Copies Of Our Japanese Garden Ebooks On AMAZON Kindle

Posted on August 23, 2012 by making a japanese garden

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Hi,

Thanks for visiting makingajapanesegarden.com .

Following on from yesterdays post – our 2 E books are available for the next 5 DAYS ONLY on AMAZON KINDLE. Here are the details and we hope you enjoy them and they help with your plans to make a Japanese garden.

Japanese Gardens – Revealed and Explained – CLICK HERE to access a free copy.

Japanese Zen Gardens – CLICK HERE to access your free copy.

Making A Japanese Garden – Things To Bear In Mind

Posted on August 21, 2012 by making a japanese garden

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Japanese philosophy reasons that everything OLD has a value. This applies to

The Imperial Gateway and Japanese Garden At Kew in London

when you are making a Japanese garden.

Boulders overgrown with moss, old trees, stone arrangements are all examples of this mantra. ‘Nature’ in a Japanese garden is fundamental and it’s appearance should reflect natural looks rather than manufactured looks – even if the garden is designed in a specific way and by definition is not old at all.

Perennials and bulbs are sporadically planted to highlight the natural character of the garden rocks that are placed ‘naturally’ in the design itself. Stone and water go together in a Japanese garden and the water element can be anything from a shallow stone basis through to a pond or small waterfall. Water must be in a Japanese garden and it is something that you will realise is not only essential but pleasing on the senses.

Japanese gardens always stress the importance of the proportionate beauty of nature itself. They are very time consumng to look after but that is part of the dedication you will need to be a Japanese gardener. All Japanese gardens are designed to hide any form of human interference and to display a ‘natural world’.

Nature consists of Stone, Water and Plants and these are 3 of the principle ingredients of a Japanese garden for this reason. The history of these garden goes back hundreds if not thousands of years and embrace nature in all their forms.

I have put together a free video on the subject of ‘Making A Japanese Garden-Design and Landscaping’ to give you a real flavour of what you will be looking for – irrespective of whether you have a larger patch of land, a small yard or even a rooftop area. All are possible in the world of Japanese gardens!

My Japanese garden design site is the home of the video and you can find out all about the subject by going to this webpage- there is NOTHING like this available online or offline so please enjoy …..and it contains a nice suprise if you want to make a Japanese garden toward the end of the video too!

To access the free video go to: http://makingajapanesegarden.com/making-a-japanese-garden-design-and-landscaping-video/

Have a great day and keep coming back to this website as it is constantly updated on the wonderful creations that are JAPANESE AND ZEN GARDENS.

Making A Japanese Garden – 5 Japanese Garden Designs REVIEW

Posted on June 7, 2012 by making a japanese garden

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Hi,

Thanks for visiting our website. It is fairly common when making aJapanese garden to feel a little overwhelmed by all of the available information and deciding what to do and where. You can do-it-yourself, get a professional in to help you OR for a fraction of the cost get help from one of the world’s top award winning Japanese garden designers Alison.

http://www.landscape-design-advisor.com is one of the internets leading garden design specialists and they have terrific advice on all sorts of gardens from all over the world. They are highly respected and have a hugely successful business. They have reviewed this ‘third’way of making a Japanese garden after road testing Alison’s Japanese garden design manual and video series. Take a look.

New Page 2

Here’s an overview of ‘Japanese Garden Designs’…

Site Name	Japanese Garden Design
Category	Garden Design
Money Back Guarantee	YES60 Days
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Products Offered	-Five complete garden designs-Detailed blueprints in PDF and JPG formats -Plant and materials lists for each plan -Full colour photos from many perspectives -Easy to follow training videos -FREE Lifetime Updates
Benefits	With this package, you can:-Create and customize a professional Japanese garden design. -Increase the value of your home substantially without spending a fortune. -Learn tricks and techniques that the professionals use. -Choose from an Oriental garden, Zen garden, waterwise design, or a tropical style. -Adapt any of the designs into an accessible outdoor space to accommodate special needs.
Testimonials	“I installed one of Alison’s Japanese garden designs after seeing her gold winning garden at the Lifestyle Garden Show. When I saw the bridge reflecting in the pond, I knew I had to have one as well.The garden turned out to lots better than I’d hoped. I believe that it was even better than Alison’s show garden!I sold the house a few months after the garden was installed, and made a handsome profit. The garden sold the house! Needless to say I installed another of Alison’s designs in my new garden.”Sandy Davies Johannesburg, SA “I’ve used Alison’s designs to improve my garden. It has made a huge difference and her ideas were very easy to implement.One thing that really helped me a lot was the way in which illusion was used to make my focal point stand out. This is a real money saver as I bought a smaller statue, without losing the impact it created. She also helped me get the flow and balance of my garden spot on.” Merl Erasmus Toronto Star Toronto, Canada

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Japanese Garden Designs today!

Making A Japanese Garden – 10 Things To DO

Posted on May 30, 2012 by making a japanese garden

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Making a Japanese garden is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things that you can do. Some people love the challenge of doing it themselves others prefer the advice and design of professionals. There is an alternative that I will come onto in a while.

SO , here are 10 things to DO when making a Japanese garden:

1) Study your subject – read books, search online ( my Japanese gardens websites are FULL of inspiring and interesting information for you). Ask experts, become very familiar with what you want to achieve in your garden or yard.

2) Find an area for your garden and MAP it out. Use pencil sketches of either the design or the layout and a good idea is to try and do it to scale. I use 1 inch ( 1.5cm) to one feet of garden. It works and makes things easy to plan and place in your mind and on paper.

3) Pick a theme – are you keen on a Zen garden, or a garden that you can sit in and stroll around? Do you want to build a ‘hillside garden’ or a ‘Tea’ garden? Be clear on what style you want. Focus.

4) Do you want a water feature – ponds are great but have to be built correctly. Plus once done you will need to leave the water to settle for a couple of weeks and check the waters ‘PH’ rating before adding plants and fish. A good pump is a must too. Try not to put a pond in too shady and area and under trees ( think of the leave in autumn and your poor pump!).

5) Decide on the types of plants that you would like to put into your garden and place them on your drawing in the spots that you feel they will look best in.

6) What about the elements that are involved when making a Japanese garden? Stone or Suseiki , Rocks, Trees, water, pathways, plant alignments.

7) Plants – decide on varieties – Maples, Azeleas, bamboo, cherry blossom, camelia’s, moss, Iris ( my manual will detail everything you need to know on this subject CLICK HERE for more details).

8) Bear the ‘seasons’ in mind – when you plan your garden imagine how they will look in the changing seasons in relation to their placement in your garden.

9) Landscape correctly to make the planting of plants and trees much easier. Lay them out in your garden in their pots and then once you are used to how they look, sink the pots into larger holes and see how they appear again before finally planting them. This gives you ample opportunity to see how they look in your garden and you can move them easily.

10) Seriously conside stonework. It really does look stunning – Pagoda’s, lanterns, stepping stones, water basins, gravel ( for paths and plant surround) , Bamboo fencing, Screening etc.

Making a Japanese garden will be so much fun – you use your artistic skill, knowledge and instinct to create that perfect outdoor space.

If you think that you are limited for time then a shortcut is to get instant designs to copy or modify along with all the knowledge that you will need from an award winning Japanese garden designer. Her name is Alison Rosenbrock and she has a short video for you to watch. Just Click HERE to get started.

As ever, I hope this information is helpful and makes you want to get started! Any questions please email me and if I can help I will!

Russ