We designed and built this Koi pond our first year in business, almost 15 years ago today. This Koi pond featured a small waterfall, a bamboo water feature, aquatic plants and of Koi. Generally speaking those of love gardening enjoy Koi. Introducing a gardener who enjoys Japanese gardens would find that Koi to be the […]

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If you are interested in Japanese gardens you should know that the most common plant shape found in Japanese gardens is the tamamono, or “dome” shape. It is the easiest and and perhaps the least expensive way to add more Japanese style pruning to your garden. When visiting a Japanese garden you will see this […]

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There are a number of bridge styles to choose from when creating a Japanese garden. They vary in shape, materials and the way in which they are constructed. In this garden we used a flat single stone slab bridge with no center support. Natural stones that are just the right length, width and thickness can […]

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The snow viewing, or yukimi, style Japanese lantern is a wonderful lantern. This lantern received its name from the cap, or roof, of the piece that is much broader than other lantern styles. This cap is either round, hexagon or octagon in shape and because of its size looks quite pretty after snow fall. This […]

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The Kasuga style Japanese lantern is a classic.  Today it is often found at or near the entrance of Japanese gardens.  Dating back to the Ashikaga period it was traditionally used as a “guardian” lantern in Japanese temples.  When not used near a garden entrance it serves as a focal point like the one shown […]

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Thanks to the wonderful fall weather we have had our Japanese garden project is taking shape.  This garden features a Koi pond, extensive boulder work, pathways, sitting areas and of course lush plantings scheduled to be installed spring 2012.  The pond is currently shut down and ready for winter, but once the leaves have fallen […]

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There are several different types of pathways used in Japanese and other garden types.  Here in one of our garden project in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, we used a tobishi style path as a short cut off of the main gravel pathway.  The tobishi stepping stones in this case are hand carved limestone pads which […]

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Granite water features like this polished black millstone fountain bring beauty and personality to any garden.  People are attracted to water, just the soothing sound alone releases energy into the air.  There are a number of sculptural choices to set on the top of these types of water features.  There is a plastic prefabricated basin […]

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This a great piece in one of our garden projects. We found this hand carved granite statue in Asia, were we fell in love with it and found a home for it here in Minnesota. It was pretty much ignored, neglected and almost lost, although not ancient, it was probably carved about 40-50 years ago. […]

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The stonework in this project contains many Japanese garden principles.  One of which can be seen in the photo,  of a three stone ishigumi arrangement, which has a primary viewing point from the great room of the house through a sliding glass door. Ishigumi, also known as iwagumi, is the art of installing stones into a […]

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