A Japanese garden could really be authentically Japanese only in Japan. Photo : Michel Lambert

The climate in Montréal is not the same as in Kyoto or Hiroshima.

Of all the challenges facing Ken Nakajima, one of the most important was the ability of the plants used in the garden to withstand our long, harsh winters and, perhaps even more important, our widely fluctuating temperatures.

Since Ken Nakajima couldn't use only Japanese species, he selected some local inhabitants to obtain the desired effect.

	Japanese cherries were not hardy enough, and had to be replaced by crab-apple trees. Did you know that in the first days of spring, the Japanese flock to the countryside to admire the flowering cherry trees? In their homes, they decorate their windows with rice paper panels like these, called shoji, to give the effect of light filtering through the pink petals. Photo : Michel Lambert

Our "Japanese-style garden" was created with some donated plants from Japan, but also trees and shrubs from Québec, Ontario, British Columbia and the United States.

Plants that are highly sensitive to extreme weather fluctuations are protected for the winter or taken inside.

Tree peonies are wrapped in burlap, while lotus plants are covered and bamboo plants stored away to protect them from freezing.

The carp spend the winter at the Montréal Biodôme.

Bamboo plants in a Japanese garden, Kyoto. Photo : Sophie Lambert

Horsetail and bamboo

Bamboo is widely used in Japanese gardens in Japan, but since none of the varieties available was hardy enough for the Montréal climate, Mr. Nakajima preferred to use equisetum (horsetail), an equally delicate, supple and elegant plant often found in the gardens of Japanese homes.

Open Windows on Japanese Gardens 1. Opening a window onto a universe 2. A very famous Zen garden 3. Step by step on stepping stones 4. Endless maintenance 5. Key to the project: the choice of stone 6. The birth of a "Japanese" garden in Montréal 7. Wanted: Hardy species 8. The three religions of Japan 9. Three gardens, three relationships between man and Nature 10. Shakkei or borrowed scenery 11. Living symbols 12. 3, 5, 7 13. Of appearance and essence 14. Precious, colourful carp 15. Mineral strength 16. Changing scale 17. The spirit of stone 18. Islands of the Immortals 19. Plants and time 20. Discreet but essential ground covers 21. Shrubs and the art of plant sculpture 22. Trees, venerable above all 23. Water, a moving mirror of life 24. A pond and its fish 25. Islands and bridges 26.Flowing, shimmering water 27. Listen to your Heart 28. Some important dates

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