For designing your own space in a Japanese style, consider “The New Zen Garden” by Joseph Cali, an American who lived many years in Japan, using his education as an interior designer. In this book, he urges his readers to treat the garden as an extension of the home’s indoor space, and is very practical and systematic in his advice.
For expertise in specific elements of the garden, Cali includes tutorials by Japanese landscape architects, artisans, and garden designers. Topics include lighting, building walkways and walls in traditional styles, and even how to arrange a dry waterfall.
Excerpted from the Summer 2020 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin