JAPANESE GARDENS 
ON THE CALIFORINA COAST 
DOROTHEA DEMERITTE DUNLEA 
Creating a Sense of Peace and Long Establishment in Little Spaces Newly Won 
The Message of an Old Civilization to a Gardening World Still Young 
HERE is no class of gardens more strikingly picturesque, 
perhaps, and yet more difficult to reproduce in all their 
native beauty than the true Japanese gardens, which 
are, however, well worth the study and effort put into 
their creation. In southern California where the Japanese are 
employed almost exclusively as gardeners, one is able to obtain 
first-hand information on the Japanese art of gardening; and in 
and about Los Angeles there are many homes with charming 
Japanese gardens that are kept in their native beauty by some 
untiring Jap. 
The Japanese idea is to reproduce a beautiful picture, a na¬ 
tural scene that is in exact proportion in size to the land which 
encloses it. It may be a mountainous scene with molded hills, 
with twisted and gnarled Pine Trees and evergreens; it may be a 
water scene, running streams and still pools bordered by Hy¬ 
drangeas or gay Azaleas; or it may be a pigmy-sized garden of 
“Dried-Up-Water-Scenery,” where lakes, cascades, and di¬ 
minutive rivers are made of sand, pebbles, and smooth rocks to 
imitate the natural flow and ripple of water. Always irregular 
in design, they belong to the informal type of landscape gar¬ 
dening though they may appear of the formal type because they 
are so highly conventionalized and so many architectural fea¬ 
tures are combined with the natural scenes. 
Flowers may or may not be a part of the planting scheme, de¬ 
pending upon whether they give a desired color effect. The 
Rose is considered too obvious in its beauty to have a place 
in such gardens, but other flowers are favored by the Japanese 
—lovely Lotus blossoms, the Iris of many varieties, the Peony, 
the Chrysanthemum, the Hydrangea, the Azalea, Camelia, and 
other flowering shrubs; and among trees, the Magnolia, and the 
flowering fruits. Ehe vines most commonly used are the 
Morning-glory and the Wisteria, particularly in shades of purple. 
P ERHAPS the feature which strikes one first on entering 
a Japanese garden is the number of rocks and stones placed 
hither and thither. I he use of stones is a symbolic thing with 
the Japanese, and a garden may contain the five principal stones 
or as many as a hundred or more which are ail placed for a 
definite purpose. There is the Guardian Stone, the Stone of 
Contemplation, the Stone of Worship and so on, all very care- 
A CALIFORNIA REPLICA 
The resting shed, roofed fence, 
lantern, and abundant use of 
stones are all characteristic of 
the gardens of Japan and some¬ 
times symbolic 
341 
