Some planning is needed. Focus on achieving a small number of critical components, such as seating and a path.
Cheap gravel or pebbles can be used to delineate, or to pave over the lawn to create walkways. Placed properly, rocks complement plants and other garden elements for good effect. Reusing concrete as decorative stepping stones is another economical option.
Choose Your Space
Think carefully about where you site a garden – its location should be secluded, with as few distractions as possible, such as neighbouring houses and traffic outside your garden fence or wall. While a little white noise such as birdsong or water trickling gently probably won’t ruin the ambience, if total silence isn’t really your thing, then make sure you keep the noise level as low as you can.
Should you choose to add water features, consider the simple pond or chisen-shoyu garden with its broad circular pathways and large water basins, symbolic of oneness, completeness and interconnectedness by the manifold.
Once you’ve chosen a spot, level the land and build a foundation of gravel or sand. Then, find rocks that you like in terms of shape, colour, texture and aesthetic appeal, and arrange them into an aesthetically pleasing symmetrical composition based on principles of balance and simplicity. The addition of evergreens for texture and contrast would create even more depth and interest.
Integrate Natural Elements
Zen gardens should always be a place of calm and privacy. A sunny space free from distracting views (Japanese maple and bamboo are both great choices for dappled sunlight) is ideal for these elements, which add greenery and softness to the ambient space.
Use stepping stones, lanterns or a small bridge to make a statement against rocks and gravel, and then add in some moss for natural texture and green shades.
Caretaking your Zen garden should be considered a complementary form of meditation; raking of the sand, pruning of plants within Tiny Oasis Burlap Pots and re-arrangement of Lunar Orbit Greenery Pots can be an ongoing means to renewed appreciation for the splendour of plants and animals; and reflective of the interdependency of it all by considered arrangement of natural elements each encapsulating some kind of symbolism, from gravel creating an illusion of water to carefully placed rocks that evoke mountains or islands.
Create a Seating Area
Garden spaces should feature opportunities for rest and reflection – provided with simple touches, like a stone bench or a plain chair within the garden – or a meandering path lined with stepping stones and lanterns, allowing visitors to wander and experience the space from various perspectives.
Incorporating water is not a requirement to the Zen garden, but adds another layer of Zen to the project, not to mention the relaxing sounds that not only drown out the noise of a nearby city but also offer the opportunity for deep meditation. Either an intricate Asian-style fountain based on zodiac signs or star constellations or the simple Japanese design of a few stream-stones, followed by a small waterfall features would be an appropriate touch. Stepping stones placed in a simple pond with a few Koi floating in the water create luck and perseverance. Placing pebble ‘rugs’ alongside the body of water or nearby is also possible and makes for beautiful designs.
While rocks or sand are the primary components of most Zen gardens, there can be other decorative items that help stimulate the senses. Smaller statues or figures could add some colour.
Add a Water Feature
And water features – with their flowing motion, symbolic associations, and noisemasking effect – add meaning and significance to any garden. They bring another layer to what a garden evokes: a flowing motion which drowns out irritating noise; one that symbolises life’s constant cycles, the sins.
If you decide to include a water feature, consider how it fits into your garden room and your landscape overall – boulders can seem too dominant in a private and intimate garden room, while small stones can be buried in the broad scale of large-scale spaces.
Other elements for a Zen garden include moss for a natural and plush look, shrubbery for colour, halogen or low-voltage lighting to let you enjoy specially-planned evening festivities after dark, as well as subdued colours, such as lavender or Russian sage, for yet higher levels of serenity.
