The Japanese garden ponds at Anderson gardens http://www.youtube.com/user/headgardener2u/
are some of the loveliest I’ve seen in this style of gardening. While not in the strict definition of Zen gardens (they’re quite large with decorative benches) they do reflect a very real, authentic experience. I quite enjoyed the quiet time I spent there wandering the gardens without a plan allowing myself to be surprised at different turns in the path and the views this created for me.
I’m a big fan of the Japanese garden school of design and I believe it has something to teach us even if we don’t want to create a Japanese sense of space.
For example, the Japanese garden is a “story” – a metaphor for some aspect of life. This is where small ponds represent lakes, single stones represent mountains and the entire garden is treated as a work of ephemeral art.
I explain this in more detail here at http://www.simplegiftsfarm.com/garden-design.html
Japanese garden design is far more than putting a lantern into a garden; it is creating a sense of space, of peace and harmony in whatever space is presented. It can be large – as in these gardens – or it can be as small as a few square feet between houses. The space is irrelevant, it is the design and story the garden represents that determines its success.
These Japanese garden ponds are examples of what I saw at this amazing garden, complete with a full range of Japanese plants (not gaudy annuals) that equally represent other things in the story these gardens are telling.
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