Features & Benefits of Japanese Garden Design

Japanese gardens are rooted in meaning, history, religion, and nature.  They promote balance and harmony and require careful consideration during the design process to create a garden that touches your spirit, reveals your style, and enhances your outdoor living.

Open space, natural, and water elements are essential in every Japanese garden design.  Here less is more.  By not overcrowding the garden and filling every space with plants, you make peaceful, calming areas that encourage thought, reflection, and rejuvenation.  Natural facets help to connect one with nature and water, such as a bowl of water for purity, or design elements that symbolize water, reflect the passage of time.

Japanese gardens epitomize understated elegance.  Few garden accents are needed, but popular accents such as lanterns and bridges quickly showcase the design style and can enhance the overall look.  However, they are not required elements.

A well designed Japanese garden or landscape should feel like a private sanctuary where you are surrounded and embraced by nature.  The design should incorporate natural screening and sounds to block out noises and visual elements that might otherwise detract from the serenity of the garden.

If you are looking for a beautiful, tranquil place to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, a Japanese garden or landscape may serve you well.  When you are ready to get started, contact Brian Kashima, the Owner of Island Landscape, to learn more and benefit his valuable expertise and 30+ years of experience as a Japanese gardener and landscaper. 

Or, if you are interested in helping us build a beautiful Japanese garden at The Aloha Garden of Maui, in Kula, Maui, Hawaii, you can support this effort by purchasing a garden brick here.

Japanese Garden at The Manito Gardens in
Spokane, Washington

Enhance Your Pond with an IslandScape

IslandScapes are living floating gardens that enhance the beauty and biological health of ponds and waterways--providing an innovative filtration and a lush growing environment for terrestrial plants.IslandScapes provide added protection for fish, added biofiltration (such as nitrate removal), shade, and a natural food source for fish and other life.

They come in different shapes and sizes and can be combined to meet your pond and design needs.  Plant them with flowers to create splashes of color and make your pond pop, or  wetland plants for a more natural feel.  You can mix and match to create many phenomenal looks.

Click here to learn more.

It's a mini-landscape in a pond!

Native Plants Add to Landscape Design & Help the Environment

Native (indigenous) plants, characteristic of a particular region, can be used in artistic landscape designs to address scarce water resources and sustainable living.

There are many benefits to using native plants in the landscape.  They are hardy, drought resistant plants that, when properly planted and established, save time and money and contribute to the environment.

They help control soil erosion and help prevent flooding, decrease the amount of water needed for landscape maintenance, require very little maintenance, do not need fertilizer, and call for fewer pesticides.  Native plants contribute to overall conservation efforts in a big way.  Additionally, the reduced fertilizer and pesticide use means less contamination in water runoff.  They also enhance biodiversity, reintroduce an area’s heritage, and promote a culture of conservation.

Understanding an area’s traditional landscape, climate/zone, rainfall/precipitation, and other environmental factors are key elements to consider when producing a comprehensive landscape design.  Incorporating native plants in the landscaping plan delivers a landscape that is colorful, low maintenance, water resourceful, and highly enjoyable.

In Maui, Hawaii, Island Landscape creates beautiful landscapes that meet owners’ needs and are a reflection of their lifestyle.  The company’s slogan is “Sustainable landscapes with style” and they incorporate sustainable practices into every project to help protect the environment, reduce maintenance costs, and deliver spectacular outdoor living spaces.  To learn more, visit Island Landscape’s website at www.IslandLandscapeHawaii.com.

Akia - A native plant on Maui used in many landscapes.