Transformation from Tangled Side Yard to Japanese Tea Garden - You Can Do It, Too!

When we purchased our current home (from a romance novelist and her lawyer husband, who were obviously too busy in their glamo-lives to tend to something as mundane as yard work), we inherited eighty years worth of overgrown vegetation in a city lot a little over a third of an acre.

There are many things neglected here, including huge yet dying oak and ash trees and perennials that should have been divided forty years ago. The first year, I cleared out a large area for my vegetable garden, terraced the area and chopped down bushes and vines.

This year's project was to take a small corner of my side yard and transform it into a Japanese tea garden.

My inspiration was the Japanese Tea Garden at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. This serene park is one of my favorites anywhere. I was immediately impressed with the well-manicured and extraordinarily beautiful grounds. I took many photographs, and noted the type of plants used at the Tea Garden. I returned home to Michigan determined to transform a part of my yard into an Asian-inspired garden.

There are several good books available on the subject of the Japanese garden. I first purchased The Art of the Japanese Garden, by David and Michiko Young, IBSN 13:978-0-8048-3598-5. This book contains beautiful photographs and history of gardens in Japan. The other books I used included Infinite Spaces, The Art and Wisdom of the Japanese Garden, based on Sakuteiki by Tachibana no Toshitsuna, IBSN 0-8048-3259-5, and Creating Your Own Japanese Garden by Takashi Sawano, IBS-13: 978-0-87040-962-2. The Sakuteiki originally was written sometime around 1100 AD. Sawano's book offers practical tips for the modern gardener who wishes to install a Japanese themed garden.

My side yard is on the east side of the house, and is protected by a large magnolia tree and my next-door neighbor's house. This area is shady most of the time. We inherited a pond and crumbling waterfall, which is in this area. The rest of this part of the yard was overgrown with hosta and ferns, which looked to me to be original to the house, which was built in 1927.