SERENE GARDENS

"Serene Gardens" by Yoko Kawaguchi

No matter how large or small your plot, this book is full of ideas for planting your own Zen garden and creating a natural haven of peace and tranquillity. The search for calm and simplicity in our interiors is now spreading to the garden, where the influence of traditional Japanese garden design is becoming apparent.

Serene Gardens is the first book to show western gardeners how to re-create Japanese garden design and detail — whether in a tiny urban patio or back yard or a large country garden.

Japanese garden’s have always revered nature, the seasons and the landscape. From the earliest times, formal gardens in Japan represented the mountains, w lakes and streams of the natural world. They use natural materials such as wood, bamboo, rocks and pebbles, emphasizing plant and tree shapes and the varied colours of foliage and moss.

Having discussed the traditional Japanese approach to planting and - garden design — from hill and pond gardens with their islands and bridges, tea gardens and their lanterns and water basins, through to Zen dry gardens with their emphasis on moss and pebbles.

Yoko Kawaguchi is bilingual in English and Japanese, having been brought up in the USA, Canada and Japan. Domiciled in Britain for many years, she has been able to develop her love and knowledge of gardening and landscape, studying both Eastern and Western traditions.

For this, her first gardening book, she has made a number of research trips to Japan; she counts among her contacts in the world of garden studies Abbot Shodo Maeda of Zuiho-in, Daitokuj Temple, Kyoto. She has also visited many western gardens influenced by Japanese horticultural aesthetics.

Yoko is currently finishing a Ph.D. while also working on several new books on topics relating to theatre, art, design and gardening. She lives in Wales.

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