Design your balcony as a Zen garden, create a relaxing refuge that banishes the hectic pace of everyday life. Since the Asian concept is based on the elements gravel, stones, moss and lines, it can be transferred to any area size. This guide explains how to create a Zen garden on your balcony.
How to create a Zen garden on the balcony?
To create a Zen garden on the balcony, use a shallow bowl, separate gravel and sand with stainless steel profiles and add irregularly arranged stones. Incorporate moss and plant Asian plants such as bonsai, ornamental grasses and shrubs.
Build your own Zen garden on the balcony – tips & tricks
Even a large, flat bowl is enough to create a Zen garden for the balcony. You can use stainless steel profiles to separate gravel and sand, following the example of the motif bands from the Memento grave design. Add some larger stones in odd numbers without creating a geometric arrangement. Only then do you form the wavy lines with a Kare-san-sui rake (€6.00 on Amazon).
It is important to note a location protected from wind and rain so that your meditative lines are not drowned in water or blown away by the wind. To integrate the element of moss into the Zen garden, create a small mound of ericaceous soil in the bowl or in a separate, flat plant container and plant it with fresh moss from the forest.
Allowed plants add green accents
If space on the balcony allows, add decorative accents with Asian trees and perennials. The following species and varieties authentically enhance the Zen garden:
- Bonsai species, such as Japanese yew (Taxus cuspidata), Japanese carnation cherry (Prunus serrulata) or boxwood (Buxus)
- Asian ornamental grasses, such as butcher's broom bamboo (Shibataea kumasaca) or fine-stemmed miscanthus (Miscanthus sinensis)
- Far Eastern ornamental shrubs as potted plants, such as rhododendrons or azaleas (Rhododendron obtusum)
If you don't want to do without summer flowers in your Zen garden, Asian peonies (Paeonia lactiflora), the spring-flowering spice bush (Calycanthus floridus) and the delicate primrose (Primula japonica 'Miller's Crimson') are in white or sand-colored pots are a good choice. For the balcony on the north side, the focus is on shadow bells (Pieris japonica), hostas (Hosta) and forest anemones (Anemone sylvestris).
Tip
Has the concept of the Zen garden convinced you so much that you would like to transfer it to your front garden? Then please remember to first spread out a weed fleece to spread gravel and sand on top. Where weeds constantly sprout, there can be no question of restful meditation.