To Zen or not to Zen?

Developed by Buddhist monks in ancient Japan (with some Chinese influence), Zen gardens are often dubbed "miniature landscapes" because their components symbolize aspects of nature. Most notably, the expanse of white gravel (which is easier to work with than sand) raked to have ripples represents ocean waves, and the tall, narrow boulders jutting out vertically represent mountains. Meanwhile, the shorter, more rounded rocks or the flat ones in the "sea of sand" represent islands.

Plants, too, are part of nature and therefore have a place in the design, although their use is restrained by Western standards. But short, green plants may be grown on or around the "islands" to represent island vegetation, and architectural plants can serve as accents. Any short trees or shrubs that are included in the design must be pruned meticulously. In fact, shrub topiaries can be pruned in such a way that they represent islands (instead of using rocks for this purpose).

Zen gardens can be characterized in a number of different ways. Because of their stark, artistic quality, they're quite abstract. Along the same lines, they can be considered minimalistic. Their symbolic use of raked gravel to represent water leads to the characterization of being "dry landscapes."

For the modern or minimalist home design, this landscape style is perfect! Being low maintenance also means it can be applied to internal courtyard designs - on small or large scales.