Yes, there are cottage gardens, tropicalesque gardens, alpine rock gardens, etc. but none that are so deeply identified with one nation or culture. That this culture is also SO foreign to most European (and US) folks is also part of the intrigue. That there are indeed magazines/websites dedicated to the topic speaks volumes. I don’t remember seeing "The Annals of Portuguese Topiary" (TAPT) or the like.

That the gardens are also HISTORICALLY (at least) associated with specific (and again "exotic") religion(s) only adds to the mystique. Obvious to anyone who has ever visited one is the calming effect it has on the visitor, again very unique.

I think that even the "fairy tale" haters would have to come up with a reason why they are so engendered with the style to begin with…

BTW, I personally really enjoy the "fairy tales" and will continue my bedtime reading!

But yes, I agree that they appear to be so magical that they beg us to search for hints and clues about the magic. The same could be said, however, about nature itself.

Informal gardens can be very sophisticated, it takes alot of knowledge to orchestrate a successful mixed border involving perhaps hundreds of different plants. Form, color, texture, seasonality and cultural requirements all have to be coordinated.

But, is the meaning of the (e.g.) sanzon to be ignored as a fairy tale? The Dewy Path?

My take on it is that the JG is a combination of the re-creation of a naturalistic setting COMBINED with various historical and regligious elements. To try and discount the influence of the later is just absurd and amounts to historical revisionism.

A tired exapmple, but worth repeating: I suppose one could study and actually try and re-create works of art by Michelangelo. I doubt one could get very far though without running into the emphasis of Christianity in his work. Do you have to appreciate or follow this religion to appreciate this work? I think not. But, you do have to recognize the influence...

That said, I don't think you HAVE to have a stong interest in Shintoism or Buddhism or Whateverism to re-create the essence of a garden. Sure, one could do a JG "paint by numbers" and probably create the same ambiance. It's up to the beholder of the garden to interpret how well it achieves this ambience.

I am at a loss though to understand the hostility by the "paint by numbers" crowd toward recognizing a religous influence. What is so threatening about this? Or does it have to do more about subscription rates and professional credibility (pissing contest) than actually appreciating the garden?

I am very, very, new to this and think my education over the last few weeks of browsing the Internet might offer a different perspective.

Please forgive me my rambling thoughts:

- I actually started my education by searching for "Zen gardens". I now believe that a true Zen garden would have nothing in it ;o)

- On a very primitive level, I find the seeming randomness and seeming simplicity of the Japanese gardens are very relaxing and soothing. This is true of all types of Japanese gardens – stroll, tea, sand / stone. So I do believe that there are underlying concepts that can be described, taught, and applied.

- I recognize that other gardens types such as English cottage gardens have structure as well; but while they are very beautiful, they don’t touch my soul, there is no sense of mystery. Perhaps becuase we are not Japanesse, we experience their gardens in a different way, perhaps they are more mythical to us.

- I often see a conflict between people who write that we should "use the japanesse garden design philosophies" to create our owns garden that reflects your natural area such as the kansas praire or the arizona desert vs. the people know what to exactly replicate a japanesse garden in another country. I hope to blend those two ideas and create a garden in New England that uses native plants but is obviously inspired by the gardens in Japan. Does this seem sound?

- Have browsed many, many photos of private Japanese gardens, I am struck by the number of poorly designed ones. My criteria being "do the gardens inspire serenity and invoke a sense of mystery?". I now appreciate how difficult a task I have before me - but it seems to be one of those "you know it when you see it" types of things. I just see too much variety of plants and too much color. I see stone lanterns dominating gardens without balance. For example, I can’t imagine having a Tetsubachi unless there is a teahouse, does that make me a japanesse garden snob?

- I am looking forward to my next phase: buying a few books [Keane / Cave / Takashi Sawano / Slawson] and subscribing to the Journal That Shall Not Be Named.

- After that, I intend to visit as many gardens in the States as possible.

- I know that I will build a walled-in garden some day. I also know that it will have a limited variety of trees and scrubs, very very few granite cravings, and will be dominated by green pines. The water features will be partially obscured from every view. My goal is to have many features that are only visible from specific locations. Ideally the traveler will only see certain features on the way back out of the garden and be amazed that they didn’t see them on the way in. For example, if I have a deer scarer, it will be completely hidden so that only the sound is experienced.

- My dilemma right now is that I want to have a teahouse garden isolated from a stone / sand garden by a grove of trees with a winding path along the edge of the sand garden thru the grove and hence to the teahouse. So I wonder if I am creating the same type of mistake that I see in others – too much, too much, too much – not simple enough. Maybe I should limit myself to either a sand/stone garden or a tea garden….but then I realize that Portland pulled it off so maybe I can too altough on a much smaller scale.

- Another challenge I foresee is many design books but few construction books – how do I move a huge stone safely, how to a protect it from damage in transit etc..

I am so excited.

Tommy

Well said!

As far as moving stones, troll in the GW stone gardening forum and go to the library and check out some books on stone work. One read through should give you some pretty good ideas for using heavy machinery and/or the do it yo' bad self methods (think Pyramid building techniques... "walk like an egyptian") for moving large stones. All part of the fun of it!

Then again, there are lots of folks here who routinely move HUGE rocks around, post a question and I bet someone will help with a specific situation.

Thanks again for your positive post. Let's see if we can keep the "positive vibrations" (oops, Rastafarian reference) going!