The rest of the backyard with goes uphill has a rockery with rocks. A landscaped area in the corner with two deciduous rounded bushes with red branches and light green leaves and white flowers, lavender. I have inherited 17 osmanthus birkwoodii and decided to make a living wall around the pavers along the house area. Before thinking we could extend the Japanese theme to the remainder of the backyard we planted too gifts of stardard roses into the long thin rockery that I mentioned. It has some California poppies and heartsease that could be removed and some other cottage ground covers. We moved some rectangular cut bluestone from our old house and other rectangular stones plus a millstone. Looking to buy both a tall lantern and small snow viewing lantern. I am assuming we could cut the lavender and rosemary planted later into rounded shapes. There is an area of square railway sleepers at the end of the paving path that I was thinking of putting large pebbles or stones around the millstone to walk over. Maybe inside the walled area, coverting the bbq area to a shelter with seat. The roses could be made into a rose hedge. We have partially terraced the corner garden. How are we going?

You will probably want to transplant the standard roses elsewhere, and the California poppies are probably too loud for a Japanese garden (do they get enough sun on the south side?).
Heart's ease is, IMHO, subtle and lovely in a J. garden, enhancing its seasonality. The BBQ area does not belong, converting to a shelter with seat sounds like an excellent idea :)

The rest sounds like you have the makings of a lovely Japanese-style garden. It will help to read up on J. gardens, and visit any in your area, for ideas and techniques.

- Evelyn

Three books recommended for beginners are:
Sunset's "Ideas for the Japanese Garden",
Ortho's "Creating Japanese Gardens",
and "A Japanese Touch for Your Garden", by K. Seike, M. Kudo, and D. Engel

Your library may well have the first two, and just might have the third :)

Japanese gardens in Victoria listed at Jgarden.com are:
Highton Japanese Garden, Geelong
Melbourne Zoo Japanese Garden, Parkville
University of Melbourne, Parkville

Good luck, and enjoy your garden!
:) Evelyn

Met Mr. Ken Lamb at the Symposium. Seemed like a neat guy and very knowledgable. He should be able to help you with his knowledge of the local flora in your part of the world. He can be found at http://www.imperialgardens.com.au/

Michael

Michael

I would love to go to the gardens, particularly the one in Geelong, we lived quite close to them last year. Unfortunately we live at the far end of the state now near the NSW border, the closest city would be Canberra. We are halfway between Sydney and Melbourne.

I have some other suitable plants out the front that could be moved to the back like Kerria, have not as yet grown it down banks, has anyone tried this?

Jgardens.com doesn't list anything specifically under ACT, but these are their gardens in NSW:
Auburn Botanic Gardens, Auburn
Cowra Japanese Garden, Cowra
Edogawa Commemorative Garden, East Gosford
Imperial Gardens Landscape Pty Ltd, Terry Hills, Sydney

Is Cowra near Canberra? Or am I just confused?
:) Evelyn

I have read:

The modern Japanese garden
Japanese Gardens in a weekend, Japanese courtyard gardens, Creating Japanese gardens by Philip Cave
Serene Gardens &
The art of Japanese gardens.

Our neighbour has a nice pinetree, not too tall that we can see in front of the mountain. We have papyrus in the original bed. Have seedling holly and access to some sacred bamboo. Have small amount of mondo grass. My hollyhocks can probably stay. We also have planted two camellias, one white small sasanqua with salmon pink back, and a Japanese variety in a yellowy shade which found relief from the sun in a area near the back of the shed.

We will remove the poppies after they finish flowering, so the kids don't miss them. Are candy chime bulbs too loud too, or are they OK because they resemble grass?

There is a good place (Stonehenge) near the Canberra Airport that has awesome array of lanterns - he imports them in from Japan on a regular basis. I have bought lots from there and can recommend their service and also their products. There is also a guy called "Leigh" who can give you Japanese Gardening advice (paid). He is owns a bonsia business - ledanta@bigpond.com

For Japanese Maple advice the owner of the nursery (Pagoda Tree) is awesome. I have bought my trees from there and the service is great - highly recommended.

There are also a few Japanese gardeners around in Canberra you may wish to contact too - these people can usually be found through the Canberra Bonsia Association.

I am very pleased with my sasanqua camellia Paradise sayaka, it is really nice, the buds today are pretty.

We have a tall lantern and have put it at the back of the block and the sharpening stone has been put down.