Small Japanese-style Courtyard

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When garden designer Rebecca Haynes first saw this tiny courtyard, it was an unattractive area full of dead plants, hanging baskets and mosquitoes! Her main challenge was to create a garden that was good to look at, almost like a 3-D painting, because the courtyard can be seen from three rooms of the house. Although the rest of the garden is very traditional, the owner of the property loves Bonsai and oriental artefacts. This inspired Rebecca to transform the ugly fernery into a Japanese-style garden.

Design features

Water runs from a traditional bamboo flume into a granite bowl, and then overflows and disappears into tumbled stones. A pump returns the water through the flume.
Each element used in the garden symbolises a traditional Japanese garden feature. The quartz gravel path represents a river flowing to the sea, with changes of texture marking the line between sand and shore. Mossy rocks form a tiny mountain range, and a small group of bushes represents a woodland.
Plants used include sacred bamboo (Nandina domestica), pittosporum (Pittosporum tobira ‘Miss Muffett’), black mondo (Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’), azaleas and a sasanqua camellia. The azaleas will be kept pruned into rounded shapes, to give the effect of rolling hills admired in traditional Japanese gardens.
A small stone lantern provides a glow of light after dark.

Further information

Rebecca Haynes
Haughty Culture
60 Walcott Street
Mt Lawley, Perth, 6050
Phone: (08) 9371 9518

Book mentioned in our segment:

‘Creating Japanese Gardens’ by Philip Cave, ISBN: 1854104233, paperback, $45.00.
Note: this title may be out of stock; ask your bookstore to confirm availability.