A Japanese-Inspired Garden in Edinburgh, Scotland

A pair of world travelers with a deep love of Japan asked JMMDS to design a Japanese-inspired landscape that would complement the contemporary renovation of their home in Edinburgh, Scotland. JMMDS created a plan that included a handsome cut-stone patio, meandering stepping stone paths, sweeping bed lines, stony mounds, a grassy pool of space, and swaths of elegant plantings. JMMDS was on site during the installation to craft the mounds and place the plants and stones. Julie Moir Messervy set out the ancient pieces of gneiss from Scotland’s Isle of Lewis. With the planting design, JMMDS sought to evoke the feeling of a traditional Japanese garden using locally suitable plants. The designers and clients visited nurseries in search of distinctive plant specimens, including cloud-pruned hollies, craggy pines, Japanese maples of varied color and habit, and a particularly notable Japanese snowbell tree. Beneath these, they laid drifts of sedges, hellebores, European gingers, ferns, and Solomon’s Seal. Evergreen azaleas, juniper, rhododendrons, and hebe were clustered around the lawn. JMMDS placed bamboos within root-controlled patio beds and planted mondo grass, sedums, and mosses among the stepping stones. Project designers: Julie Moir Messervy, Principal; Erica Bowman, Senior Landscape Architect Collaborators: Helen Lucas Architects, Steven Ogilvie (garden installers) Photography: Angus Bremner