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By Katherine Roth

The Associated Press

Japanese-style gardens first caught the public imagination in the U.S. at an 1893 world exposition in Chicago, became a sought-after feature in Gilded Age estates, and were later adapted to open-plan modernist homes.

Today they have evolved, and continue to inspire garden design at a time when many people are trying to forge a closer connection between indoor and outdoor spaces.

鈥淥ne reason that gardens are so successful in Japan is that the house-garden relationship is set up to be so integrated,鈥� said Asher Browne of Oakland, New Jersey. After training in Kyoto, Japan, he now creates Japanese-inspired gardens for clients in the U.S. 鈥淭here are large views of the garden, and more unobstructed views. Gardens are enclosed and surround the house, so it鈥檚 as if your living space extends out much further.

鈥淭hat aesthetic is definitely catching on.鈥�

Japanese garden design in this country has moved well beyond stereotypical features like lanterns and imported Japanese cherries and maples, said Sadafumi Uchiyama, chief curator of the Portland Japanese Garden and director of the International Japanese Garden Training Center there. Uchiyama is a third-generation Japanese gardener from southern Japan.

At first, he said, Japanese gardens in the U.S. 鈥渃opied the stone lanterns, water basins and stepping stones. But gradually, they started to design more original and authentic gardens. We are now getting a much closer look at quality.鈥� Books and expertise are more widely available.

There are over 200 Japanese-style public gardens in the U.S., according to the North American Japanese Garden Association, which features a聽聽on its website. Leading ones include the Portland Japanese Garden; the Shofuso Japanese House and Garden in Philadelphia; the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford, Illinois; and the Japanese Friendship Garden in San Diego.

In the Japanese aesthetic, garden spaces are linked with interior spaces, Browne said, so that each view from a home is a perfectly composed, almost painterly, view of the garden around it.

鈥淚n Japan at least, it seems that there is one core idea that has come down over centuries, and that is the idea of bringing the beauty of nature into daily lives,鈥� he said.

Other aesthetic concepts widely appreciated now, he said, are asymmetrical balance, and the beauty and importance of rocks, stones and boulders as the 鈥渂ones鈥� of a composition. They can then be filled in supportively with plantings.

John Powell, a garden builder and pruning specialist from Weatherford, Texas, who trained in Japan, said he was attracted to Japanese gardens by 鈥渢he seamless connection between interior and exterior space, which is evocative of the larger natural world, sometimes in a very compressed space.鈥�

鈥淭hat is a big change from the U.S., where the landscaping was traditionally there to dress the exterior of the house, but was very disconnected from interior space,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think especially today, that idea of connecting the indoors and the outdoors is an aesthetic that a lot of people strive for.鈥�

The Japanese garden aesthetic 鈥渋s very simple sounding, but it鈥檚 the most difficult thing I ever thought of in my life,鈥� he added.

As for sustainability, there鈥檚 been a major shift in thinking about Japanese-style gardens away from specimen gardens, which tend to feel a bit like a botanical garden, and toward greater use of plants adapted to local environments.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very possible to create a wonderful Japanese garden using all native plants,鈥� Browne said.

Landscapers specializing in Japanese garden aesthetics say one persistent misconception is that these gardens are low-maintenance or even maintenance-free.

Nothing is maintenance-free, and sometimes Japanese-style gardens involve even more maintenance than other gardens, they agree.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not so much about massive cleaning and pruning projects, but about constant small actions,鈥� Uchiyama said. 鈥淓very time I walk in the garden I pick up a few pine needles, a bit of trash or a few leaves.

鈥淚n Japan, only about 20 percent of the land is habitable, so people learn to care for their environment. One way is to do incremental cleaning and maintenance. It鈥檚 about an approach, about caring, and how you see things.鈥�