| Plant Component: "White drops of dew on the spines in the thornbush, one for each." Buson | ||||
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When placing plants in the garden, the most important thing to remember is that the planting must look as natural as possible. Although you want to give the perception of depth, one must be careful of overplanting because then it leaves an impression of unnatural crowding. When planting, it is also vital to match plants with the surrounding that is already there. For instance, it would not be wise to plant a forest plant on the edge of a stream. The gardener must try and make the plants complement each other and plants that are bold, large or bright should be avoided because they will take away from not only the other plants, but the overall image of the garden. There are a couple of functions that plants take on when in a Japanese garden. Although |
there is definitely an aesthetic quality to them, plants are rarely used for decorative use only. The most important role they take on is to provide background and overall cohesion to the garden design. Also, in gardens that are meant to have a number of different views, plants can act as dividers between different areas. It is only in this use that dense planting is recommended. Another use of planting is to give the illusion that the garden is part of something much bigger, through the use of screening. Screening can make a garden look a lot bigger as well. There are a variety of plants that are used in Japanese gardens. They range from a variety of ferns to different varieties of Azaleas. | |||
