East Asia
Gardening in Japan
Four crisp seasons, a summer rainy season, and typhoons in late summer.
The numbers that decide your year
- Growing zones
- USDA 5a–11a · humid temperate to subtropical
- Last spring frost
- March to May by region
- First autumn frost
- November to December
- Rainfall
- 1000–1800 mm with a distinct tsuyu rainy season
The local challenge
The rainy season followed immediately by intense heat and humidity.
Rules worth knowing
Plant import and export is tightly inspected; some prefectures restrict bamboo planting near boundaries.
How people actually garden here
- Tea gardens
- Karesansui dry gardens
- Courtyard tsuboniwa
- Bonsai display
Native to this country
Plants that evolved here. They ask least of you and give most back to local insects and birds.
Reliable in this climate
Introduced rather than native, but proven in these conditions. Each links to its full encyclopedia entry.
Seasonal jobs
Open the calendarThe calendar reads your device clock and orders every job for the northern hemisphere.
The printed guide
The Japan Gardening Guide
280 pages written for this country alone: its soil, its frost dates, its rules and the plants that reward the effort. Everything on this page, expanded and in your hands.
- Designing with restraint
- Moss, gravel and stone
- Pruning as a yearly rhythm
- Surviving tsuyu and typhoons
- Container and courtyard gardens
- Regional bloom calendars
€9.95280 pages · PDF download