A Japanese Garden in a Front Yard

We had a great time designing and site supervising the Japanese Garden which we are entering into an "Excellence of Landscape" award this fall. The homeowner is from Hawaii and wanted a Japanese garden to remind her of her home state and the ocean, complete with a Torri Gate and bridge.

After research, a design was created which used the concept of the sacred pool used for purifying oneself before entering through the Torri Gate and into the temple. The "temple" in this case was the designed to be an inviting bench on a buff flagstone patio surrounded by plants.

The challenges of this project included keeping the integrity of the Japanese Garden intact while incorporating hardy Colorado plant material. With direct exposure to drying northwest winds, Japanese Maple type plants were out of the question. Purple, red, pink and white colors were used throughout utilizing a variety of prolific flowering shrub roses, barberries, cistena plums, a Newport Plum and a clump Amur Maple to provide brilliant fall color.

Another challenge was using Colorado hardscape materials while still keeping a traditional Japanese look and feel to these areas. This was accomplished by incorporating black Mexican beach pebbles into the three buff flagstone patios and pathways throughout the garden and in the three falls and streams running over the Colorado moss boulders and rocks. The cedar bridge and Torri Gate were custom designed using cedar, treated with linseed oil to bring out the warm earth colors. Zen lights, aquatic plants and koi fish completed the traditional look and feel of the garden.

We'll find out in December if it wins in the "special categories" section of the awards. Stay posted!

new vid from Mark Turner on Vimeo.