A Taste of Asia Gardening

Lately, I have noticed that the mail-order garden supply catalogs are full of Asian-themed garden accessories such as pots, traditional bamboo fences, and stone lanterns. This seems to go along with the trend toward Asian-inspired minimalism in home décor. In California and the Pacific Northwest, traditional Asian and Asian-inspired gardens have been popular for years. Can a national vogue for Chinese and Japanese gardens be far behind?

Probably not, and that’s a good thing. At a time when the urge to indulge in conspicuous consumption leads some people to jam suburban lots full of waterfalls, follies, gazebos, and monstrous outdoor cooking appliances, a little minimalism can’t hurt. The traditions of Asian gardening, which are inextricably linked to various religious, cultural, and aesthetic philosophies, go back thousands of years. Asia is also a horticultural treasure trove.

Western plant hunters have been bringing back specimens from all over the continent ever since Europeans first went East in search of the rare and costly. The nineteenth century was a particularly fertile time for these plant hunters, and they obtained many of the species that we take for granted today.

The Asian garden of today is more about philosophy and contemplation than ostentation, but it wasn’t always that way. Conspicuous consumption is neither new nor native to America. It was already going strong during the reign of the Chinese Emperor Yangdi in the 7^th century AD. Yangdi’s garden, according to historical accounts, had trees that were covered with silk flowers during the winter, mechanical figures that sailed in boats along specially constructed canals, and a mix of real and artificial lotus blossoms floating in the water.

Fortunately,