Scotland, Wales & Ireland Japanese style gardens open to the public
The UK has a number of publicly accessible Japanese style gardens shown in the listing below.
It includes some of historic interest and value as well as very recently constructed gardens. The gardens vary greatly in both size and standard. Many of the gardens are sited in public spaces or parks and some unfortunately have been subject to damage and lack of maintenance.
Appreciation of these gardens is to a large extent subjective and this particular selection is not intended to identify ‘the best’ gardens, merely to reflect the wide range of gardens and their different styles that are open to the public.
To add further detail to each garden, if known the date of construction, date of any restorations and brief descriptions are also given.
Images of the gardens may not be recent and have been supplied by JGS members unless otherwise stated.
Click on the name of the garden for website and when appears grey for more information and pictures if available.
National Botanic Garden of Wales Japanese Garden
Located in the National Botanic Garden of Wales. Constructed in 2001, the garden started life as a Show Garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, winning a Gold medal and coveted ‘Best in Show’ for its designer, Professor Masao Fukuhara. By 2017 renovation work was needed. The Japanese Garden Society (JGS) led a restoration programme, part-funded by the Japanese government. Repairs to the building, wall, paths and bamboo fence, extensive pruning and replanting were completed in spring, 2019.
See JGS restorations page for more information.
Lafcardio Hearn Garden
Gardens reflect the life and extensive wanderings of Irish/Greek Writer Patrick Lafcadio Hearn (Koizumi Yakumo), who grew up in Ireland, and whose life journey embraced several parts of the world. The gardens pay homage to the fame he attained in Japan
through his incomparable literary descriptions of the people, customs and culture.
The journey begins in a Victorian Garden which commemorate Hear’s happy childhood summers in Tramore. Later there is an American Garden and a Greek Garden, followed by a series of Japanese inspired landscapes. Having passed beneath a Fujidana, you will soon reach a traditional Japanese Tea House and Tea Garden; followed by a Stream Garden which leads to ponds and a waterfall and an extensive woodland area.
The main elements of design, in particular the use of rocks and water and the plant selection, are influenced by the tradition of a Japanese Strolling Garden. The 2.5 acre gardens are set on a hillside overlooking the dramatic sweep of Tramore Bay. Visitors are introduced to aspects of Japanese folklore through several stories written and translated by Lafcadio Hear. These include The Cave of the Children’s Ghosts, and the legend of Urashima Taro.
The Japanese concept of ‘shakkei’ or “borrowed landscape” is adopted in the Tramore Gardens which offer twin vistas, one of densely planted trees in a nearby woodland area, and one of the magnificent Bay of Tramore. Both views are used to extend the visual boundaries of the garden. The garden seeks to achieve a feeling of timelessness. Many Japanese plants, suited to the local climate are used in the design. Moss and gravel, with boulders and undulating features set into the landscape, create enclosures to capture the desired ambiance.
Irish National Stud Japanese Garden
The gardens were laid out by Japanese master horticulturist Tassa Eida and his son Minor between 1906 and 1910. Eida was involved in designing gardens for the Japan-British Exhibition in Hammersmith in 1910. It took forty labourers four years to lay out the garden, at a cost of £38,000. Hundreds of tonnes of rock were carted from the Silliot hills, and large, mature Scots pines transplanted from Dunmurray. Eida’s brother lived in Japan at this time, and between them they organised a chartered cargo from Japan to bring stone lanterns, plants, bonsai, a tea house and a miniature village, the various parts of the latter carved in Fujiyama lava. Crevasses in the individual pieces of lava from which the village was cut have been used to grow dwarfed conifers and azaleas.
Their aim was, through trees, plants, flowers, lawns, rocks and water, to symbolise the ‘Life of Man’. Japanese style bridgework and a tea house are also present. The karesansui garden represents oblivion before rebirth.
The plants used in the Tully garden include spring-flowering species of cherry blossom, flowering almond and plum, with Japanese azaleas and camellias forming a canopy over St Bridget anemonies, and other spring bulbs. In summer the hostas, ferns, Japanese anemonies and Tibetan poppies provide a lovely shaded tranquillity beneath the tree canopy. Autumn isperhaps the most spectacular season, with the wonderful diversity of autumn colour on the Japanese maples.
Many of the original bonsai Larix kaempferi and Chamaecyparis obtusa, in particular, are still growing in the garden, but although still pruned to give the appearance of bonsai, they have long since burst their pots, and are rooted into the ground.