Japanese Gardens Offer Many Benefits

The benefits of a Japanese garden or landscape are many.  They include:

• Providing a place for peace & serenity;
• Helping one connect with nature;
• Health benefits by helping to relieve stress. Many gardens include a koi pond and watching koi is known to help relieve stress, as well as provide many other benefits;
• Added exercise with maintaining the garden;
• Inspiring new thoughts;
• Encouraging reflective time and meditation which helps to improve focus;
• Conserving water through reduced plantings and use of natural elements.  Japanese garden and landscape designs can also be done as Xeriscapes  or even Zeroscapes; 
• Some designs require less maintenance than other garden/landscape styles;
• A design style that works well with native grasses and trees; and 
• Koi are used in aquaponic systems, so a koi pond that is part of a Japanese garden can be leveraged to help grow food.

To reap these rewards and include a Japanese garden in your landscape, visit www.JapaneseLandscapes.com.

Japanese Garden at the Manito Gardens
in Spokane, Washington

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

Benefits of Creating Gardens & Landscape

Beautiful gardens and landscaping transforms properties into works of art and produces outdoor areas that welcome guests, inspire, nurture, aid relaxation, and provide exciting living and entertaining spaces year round.  While these benefits are widely known and regularly thought about, landscaping also offers other significant economic, environmental and social benefits, including:  

Energy Savings

By reducing sunlight and heat build-up, landscaping can keep homes and buildings cooler and bring down energy bills. The American Public Power Association found that landscaping can reduce air conditioning costs by as much as 50% by shading a home's walls and windows.  The U.S. Department of Energy reports that appropriately placed trees can cut as much as 25% of a household’s energy consumption for heating and cooling.  

Improved Living Conditions

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, trees can reduce bothersome noise by up to 50% and mask unwanted noises with more pleasant sounds.  They can also reduce temperatures by as much as nine degrees Fahrenheit per a report by American Forests.

Living Space ExtensionWell designed gardens and landscapes can dramatically add to the usable size of a yard and the square footage of a living space through functional open-air rooms.  They can extend indoor activities to the outdoors and make a smaller property feel more sizable.

Enhanced Aesthetic Value & Curb Appeal

It is all about a first impression and captivating gardens or landscapes draw immediate attention.  They set the tone for and can be the determining factor in whether a prospective buyer elects to explore the property or not.

Increased Property Resale ValuesBuyers are willing to pay more when they can see how the garden or landscape will add to their enjoyment of the property.  Inviting decks, relaxed seating areas, and outdoor barbeques offer wonderful visions of entertaining.  Japanese gardens, waterfalls, and koi ponds can conjure up a sense of tranquility.  Rock and stone entryways and features deliver sophistication and elegance, while connecting people with nature. Lush tropical landscapes bring the essence of the islands to mind.  According to the American Nursery and Landscape Association, a striking landscape can add between 7 and 15 percent to a home's value and accelerate the sale of a home by five to six weeks.  Landscaping achieves a high recovery value of 100-200% at selling time according to Money Magazine, as compared to a kitchen remodel at 75-125%, a bathroom remodel at 20-120%, and a swimming pool addition at 20-50%.

Smart Money Magazine, March 2003, noted that by spending 5% of the value of your home on the installation of a quality low-maintenance landscape, you could boost the resale by 15%, earning back 150% or more of your landscape investment.  In fact, a Society of Real Estate Appraisers Study, 2003 indicates that 955 of the members of the Society of Real Estate Appraisers say that landscaping adds to property value, while 99% agree that landscaping increases speed of home sales.

Gardens and landscaping raises one’s property satisfaction, provides savings, delivers a significant return on investment, and contributes to the bottom line.  

To reap these benefits and make your garden or landscape dreams a reality in Hawaii, visit Island Landscape's website at IslandLandscapeHawaii.com.

(Mahalo [thank you] to the American Nursery & Landscape Association for publishing the statistical information which was obtained from their website.)

Top 10 Reasons to Include A Koi Pond In Your Garden

I love koi and have a koi pond at home. They are so much fun to watch, do not take much work, and are excited to see me when I come to feed them. There are many other benefits too, including these:

Top 10 Reasons to Include A Koi Pond In Your Garden

1. Adds beauty and serenity to your life
2. Koi make terrific pets
3. More and more doctors are reporting health benefits from koi ponds
4. Watching koi is relaxing
5. The sound of gently moving water is soothing
6. Tending a koi pond makes a great hobbie
7. A koi pond is an attractive and popular feature for your garden
8. It gives your garden or landscape a natural feel
9. Saves on watering as koi ponds take less water than grass or other plants that would otherwise occupy the same space
10. Increases your home’s value 

Koi Pond in Tropical/Asian Influenced Landscape in Maui, Hawaii

Garden Design Idea: Conserve Resources with Xeriscaping

Xeriscapes incorporate low-maintenance, drought-tolerant and native plants, along with natural and man-made materials, to provide attractive landscapes that conserve water and energy and require less maintenance.

While the word xeriscape used to bring to mind the image of an Arizona, dessert-type landscape, that incorrect perception is changing.  Pictures abound of Japanese rock or sand gardens, container gardens, Mediterranean and Tuscan gardens, Hawaiian and tropical gardens, and more that incorporate xeriscaping principles.

Xeriscapes are creative landscapes that can be based in any landscape style.  They look beautiful, conserve resources and give you the added pleasure of knowing you are helping the planet.

Pictures from various homes in Maui and Lanai featuring xeriscaping.

To contact a landscape expert in Hawaii, visit www.IslandLandscapeHawaii.com.

Garden Benefits: Relax Outdoors

Need a place to get-a-way and relax.  A garden corner or space between two trees will do.  Just add a hammock and relax away.  It is an inexpensive escape that will increase your enjoyment of the garden.  You can add style and decorate it with a colorful pillow or throw.  Then, add a side table for refreshments and you are good to go.