Asian Garden - Zen Garden

Name: Asian Garden - Zen Garden

Open to the public? No

County:

USDA Hardiness Zone:

Extension Demonstration Garden? No

Approximate year the garden/landscape was established:

What to look for: The Zen garden is an important part of Japanese culture. Dating back to the early 6th century, the Buddhist monks created meditation spaces out of sand and rocks. Later the gardens were enjoyed by warlords, emperors and aristocrats, their purpose evolving from meditation to aesthetic pleasure. 

The typical elements designated in a Zen Garden include:

• Plants
• Stones
• Water or the suggestion of water
• Paths and bridges
• Ornamentation
• Sensory elements
• Simplicity and asymmetry

The purpose of a Zen garden is to help quiet and focus the mind, awaken the senses and make the viewer more attuned to nature. Each element of a Zen garden holds symbolism.

Plant symbolism:

• Bamboo – strength, growth and living a straightforward life.
• Azaleas  –  femininity, remembrance of home, elegance and wealth.
• Japanese Maples – grace, balance, calm and peace.
• Weeping Cedar – humility.
• Water – renewal, calm, wonder and continuity in the hereafter.
• Stones – durability, omnipresence of the forces of nature, and stability.
• Paths represent the journey to enlightenment, leading to new opportunities as well as leading the eye to other areas of the garden and sparking exploration.
• Bridges – life changes and transition.

Lanterns represent love, purity, brightness and protection from evil. 

Torii are traditional Japanese gates found at the entrance of temples, where it symbolically marks the transition from the secular to the sacred or the mundane to the divine.

Horticulture: No special regimens noted.