USDA zones 5–8

Japanese garden ideas

A Japanese-style garden is composed rather than planted. A pruned maple, mounded moss, raked gravel, a stone lantern and a water basin, each placed with room around it. Evergreens are clipped into soft mounds and the colour comes from foliage and bark, not flowers.

A Japanese landscape rendered by YardRemake on a sample home — Rendered by our engine on a sample home, with the house kept and the yard restyled. Your photo gets the same treatment.

See my yard in the Japanese styleUpload a photo and the style is already picked. Free, no card.

How to get the look

1Start with the stone: a few boulders and a gravel bed set the structure before any plant goes in.
2Plant one Japanese maple where it will be seen from the main window, and prune it to show the branches.
3Use moss, mondo grass and clipped azalea as the ground layer and keep the plant count low.

Where it thrives

Zones 5 to 8, plus mild coastal 9. Maples and moss want humid summers and scorch in dry desert heat.

Zone 5 Zone 6 Zone 7 Zone 8

Up close

Three details from the same render.

Japanese style, from the path — From the path

Japanese style, beside the steps — Beside the steps

Japanese style, across the beds — Across the beds

Plants that build the look

From our library of real plants, each rated for the zones this style suits. Every card opens the plant's page with its zones, sun, water and sources.

Dwarf Japanese Garden Juniper

Dwarf Japanese Garden Juniper

Juniperus procumbens 'Nana'

BorderZone 4-9Full sunMedium water

Japanese Black Pine

Japanese Black Pine

Pinus thunbergii

AccentZone 5-8Full sunMedium water

Japanese Forest Grass

Japanese Forest Grass

Hakonechloa macra

AccentZone 5-9Part shadeMedium water

Japanese Holly

Japanese Holly

Ilex crenata

BorderZone 5-8Full sunMedium water

Japanese Maple (Bloodgood)

Japanese Maple (Bloodgood)

Acer palmatum

AccentZone 5-8Full sunMedium water

Pieris (Japanese Andromeda)

Pieris (Japanese Andromeda)

Pieris japonica

BorderZone 5-8Full sunMedium water

Pink Camellia japonica

Pink Camellia japonica

Camellia japonica

BorderZone 7-9Part shadeMedium water

Azalea

Azalea

Rhododendron indicum

BorderZone 7-8Part shadeMedium water

Browse the whole plant library →

Real before and afters

From the gallery, made with the same engine.

Your yard, this style

See your own home in the Japanese style

One photo of your yard. The house stays, the yard is restyled, and every plant in the result is a real species checked against your zone.

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