Hi GPODers!
Garden Photo of the Day is based in the U.S., but we gladly accept submissions from gardeners all over the world. Of course, the majority of our submissions come from North America and the Northern Hemisphere, but we will occasionally receive submissions from international gardens and sometimes get to see what gardeners in the Southern Hemisphere are experiencing. Just last week I shared Gabrielle’s lush gardens in New South Wales (check out Gabrielle’s Garden in New South Wales, if you missed it), so I was surprised and delighted to have another garden from Down Under to share this week. Today we’re heading up the eastern coast, to Queensland, Australia, and exploring the beautiful garden Dawn Mitchell created based on Japanese garden design.
An avid interest in Japanese philosophies, combined with a love of natural landscape led me to the challenge of creating a Japanese Zen garden, albeit living in a tropical climate.
Aware of deep-rooted incongruities in Japanese culture and trying to stay true to the art of reduction, a trope within its tradition, was an essential principle and integral to the design of land-marking this concept, into a warm one-season climate. Some might say that a Kiwi in Queensland attempting such a task could be seen as brave or imprudent.
Because nature is meant to be respected and seen as a beauty that lets us live within it, a Japanese garden is created to accept this offer.
Manipulating organic properties of the objects in a Japanese garden to enhance the naturalness and to achieve an art-nature hybrid that testified to its natural overall look, was what I strived for. Positioning symbolic rocks and gravel, perfecting the sound of water flow from the bamboo spout, manipulating the growth pattern of plants, and redefining the autumnal colour of the foliage, was enduring and enjoyable. Eventually, it evolved and flourished with help from my husband, pushing an overloaded wheelbarrow never-ending kilometres, and my apologies to the pump installer who had to endure my OCD tendencies.
One year on, I experience wabi-sabi; the imperfection and acceptance of transience through nature’s lens, of what used to be a nondescript patch of backyard grass, now a sequestered piece of Zen paradise.
Dawn Mitchell
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A crucial aspect of Japanese garden design is subtlety and simplicity, which is related to the idea of “reduction” that Dawn mentions above. To emphasize the beauty of naturalistic landscapes and to allow each element of the garden enough space to shine, restraint must be practiced in order to respect the value of these resources while reducing waste. While some garden styles encourage maximalism, Japanese design emphasizes the old adage that “less is more,” and Dawn executes that perfectly.
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Zen gardens, also known as the Japanese dry garden or rock garden, are crafted to create stylized miniature landscapes. Carefully placed rocks and plants symbolize mountains and green hills, while well-maintained trees and shrubs mimic their much-larger relatives in the wild. These miniature landscapes also teach us an important lesson about preservation as Zen gardens are usually meant to be treaded on minimally, more of a space for observation than interaction. This reminds us how precious our environment is, and that we should strive to maintain and uphold the beauty of nature.
While this design style is undoubtably distinct, some principles are found in every successful garden. Plant spacing and size can drastically change how your eye travels through the space and can give the illusion that your garden is larger or smaller than it really is. Though this view is a short distance from one side of the garden to the other, varied heights and textures create a great amount of depth that draws the eye into the details on the opposite end.
And the small details hold just as much importance as the large ones! While the large bamboo plant seen in many of the photos above is clearly a focal point and showstopper, red is also playing a crucial role in Dawn’s design. What looks to be a carpet of ‘Red Threads’ alternanthera (Alternanthera ficoidea ‘Red Threads’, Zones 10–12) is a beautiful pop of color and contrast to all of the greens and grays in the garden.
While stone lanterns aren’t a requirement, a couple well-placed in the garden certainly won’t hurt! I particularly like that Dawn selected very different lanterns that all manage to work together.
Thank you so much for this tour through your tropical Zen garden, Dawn! I can think of a space more inspirational for those that think their dream garden is outside what their space or location allows. With a little creativity and lots of consideration to plant choices, just about any garden style is possible.
Is your garden style one that matches your location? Or do you pull style and design cues from a different country and culture like Dawn does? I would love to hear and see where you pull your garden inspiration from. Follow the directions below to submit your garden via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
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