Now and Zen - Japanese garden in the Lowcountry

Those who aspire to a Japanese garden in the Lowcountry would have done well to have started 100 or more years ago. Great age is a definite asset because Japanese gardens are not developed overnight and they depend on so many elements not available to us in the here and now. There really is such a thing called the “spirit of the place” or “genius loci” which suggests that it is nearly impossible to impose a design on an unwelcoming environment. The climate, topography and soil, as well as the time frame, are not compatible. Many of the plants in Japanese gardens are, however, familiar to Lowcountry gardeners. They include sago palm, Japanese aucuba, pittosporum, podocarpus, nandina, mondo grass and Japanese maple, as well as azaleas and camellias, as they are natives of Japan. But oh, the podocarpus – they are grown into large trees with massive trunks and branches; quite unlike the rather undistinguished shrubs we normally grow.