Zen gardens, also known as Japanese rock gardens. Its origin can be tracked from sixth century, Zen Buddhist monks created the first zen garden for meditation, since then, the Zen garden be treated as the symbol styling garden of naturalness (shizen), simplicity (kanso) and austerity (koko). Visiting a zen garden is a great way to reduce stress, improve your focus, and develop a sense of well-being.

Zen garden themes are so popular because they are simple and low-maintenance. If you want a calm, peaceful backyard, a Zen garden should be on your top list. If your job is a tiny backyard, zen gardens are a great choice, since zen gardens never care about size.

Zen gardens are best described as a form of minimalism with sand, aggregates, and gravel as the symbolism, yet it is far from being repetitively boring. SAI’s garden range stone will inspire you to create your own.

Garden Range, Steppers

Every garden needs a path or two. There are many materials to choose from when paving an outdoor area, but the organic stone stepper is unique. Stepper come in both larger and smaller sizes, and has its own unique shape, which is cut from raw boulders. Weave organic stepping stones around a small tree or pieces of sawara cypress, semi-evergreen ferns, even black bamboo if that’s your thing:), you have a herbaceous aroma coming from your backyard.

Stepper range check

Garden Range, Slabs

The stepping stones idea may not be for you, but if you still want zen, you can use a slab paving option. This type of paving is processed from a stone slab and this will create a random pattern style. Customization means more options to play with, and you can pick sizes that match your style better. A tip for you: keep your slab paver edges slightly curved, that way you avoid straight lines and achieve a real Japanese-style garden.

Customised Feature Stone

Zen gardens reproduces a natural scene by utilising hard landscape elements. If you want to add some decorations through your pathway, natural stone boulders are common add-ons. Set up one or two during your pathway, these stone boulders will provide a naturalistic feeling within Japanese styling.
In many gardens, boulder stones are designed to make waterfalls. This kind of hardscaping is easy to maintain throughout the seasons.

Gravel

Stretches of gravel is the most common element in Japanese garden, undoubtedly – you will reach 80% zen style after applying gravel for your garden.
Raking is commonly used to create patterns in these gardens, and the practice symbolises calmness and peace. We would recommend gravel over sand here, as gravel is easier to maintain. Raking your light creamy or grey gravel around your plants and stone boulders will make your garden look stunning.