How to choose plants for a Japanese flower garden can seem like a challenge, but just remember to keep it simple and that a Japanese garden is above all else a place of relaxation. The art of Japanese gardening has taken thousands of years to perfect and no one can master it over night. Early Japanese literature tells us a little but about the word for garden or “niwa”. In a poem from the “Mayoshu” (Collection of a Thousand Leaves) the term “niwa” is used to express the environment or territory, but as the Japanese culture settled down their environment was confined and so too did the word “niwa”, which now means simply garden. http://www.Japanese garden.com/gardening/2009/05/some-thoughts-on-the-origins-of-the-Japanese-garden

The Japanese garden most often is meant to be a small replica of larger surrounding landscape. There are a few styles, but below the hill and pond style and the stroll style are explained in further depth. The plants placed into the garden are used for accenting or to represent thing that appear in nature, like mountains and lakes. Watch out though, because for every beautiful piece of art there are natural threats lurking in the wood work. The Japanese Beetle poses a huge risk to many plants and in a number of days can destroy a garden.

The style of the garden depends greatly on the tastes of the gardener. Two of the most common Japanese styles are the hill and pond style and the stroll-garden. The hill and pond style is very relaxed when compared to complex European and other Western gardens. With this style the plants are laid out in distinct parts of the garden known as the foreground and the background. The foreground traditionally has small flowering trees and shrubs that are often trimmed into rounded shapes so that they will look like hills or clouds. The background would have a small pond, hills and larger forest trees.

In a stroll-garden there is a path placed for the person to walk through the garden to see different focal point that have been arranged. These focal points or scenes often have miniatures of well know Japanese sites, stories and artwork.

Some popular evergreen trees for background are the Japanese Pine and the Himalayen White Pine. Nice plants and shrubs for the foreground are the Japanese barberry and weigela. http//gardeningknowhow.com/design/japanese-flower-gardens-plants-for-a-japanese-garden.htm

As Japanese gardens tend to replicate the larger surrounding landscape a technique called “Shakkei” or borrowed scenery is used to make a small garden space look much larger. This is done by planting shrubs to block the view of close buildings and other structures and draw the eyes upward so that the larger landscape outside the garden is apart of the garden. In Japan mountains and water seem to fill the natural landscape and so does it fill the gardens. Rocks or small boulders are often put to use to illustrate the mountains. Another common object found in the garden would be a small pond to ass a touch more nature to the scene. Water oaks and maidenhair trees should be placed around such a pond as they require a lot of water. The “karesansui” or dry landscape style has no water but uses pebbles and raked gravel or sand to give the appearance of water. Other styles illustrate the water by the use of color in the plants instead of a pond or pebbles and sand. Japanese irises, azaleas and Iles crenate can add some wonderful colors to the garden. Baby’s tears, moss and Japanese sweet flag can add a little more texture and color as well. http://www.japaneselifestyle.com.au/garden/japanese_garden_styles.html

Every seasoned gardener knows the fight against pests can be a tireless and sometimes brutal endeavor. Watching plants lovingly placed and cared for be devoured by creepy crawlies could be heart breaking. A Japanese flower garden like any other garden has its own specialty brand of pest. The Japanese Beetle could potently destroy a plant in a manner of days. When choosing plants for a Japanese flower garden a gardener should take into consideration the threat of this beetle.

A good way to detour it from trying to devour the garden is to grow plants that the Japanese beetle avoids. Plants that help to drive these beetles away tend to have a very strong smell and taste badly to them. Garlic, catnip, marigolds and chives all seem to detour Japanese beetles. There are also plants that the Japanese beetles simply are not interested in. However these plants may suffer damage from the beetle, but the beetle will soon leave them alone because of lack of interest. Some of the plants included in this group are the American elder, common lilac, holly, pines and flowering dogwood.

By placing these types of plants in the garden the battle between gardener and Japanese beetle could prove to be over before it even began. http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/problems/japanese-beetle-resistant-plants.htm