Last night I was describing the Huntington Gardens (at the Huntington Library) to a friend and realized that I’ve never heard of a German garden, or a French garden, or a Spanish garden.  Why is that?  Instead, there are Japanese gardens abound, and a fair amount of Chinese gardens as well.  Other than that, there are themes based on plant type or ecosystem – rain forest, desert, wetland…  I find that Japanese gardens tend to focus more on the features – zen gardens, bonsai trees, and bamboo – whereas Chinese gardens have a slightly stronger focus on architecture – pagodas, stylized gateways, and small buildings.  Both definitely have a water element present (particularly a lake), which isn’t always the case in other gardens.

Western gardens seem to be more about flowers, an open field of grass, and greenhouses.  But in terms of a country or culture having a particular type, I can’t say that I’ve heard of any.  Is it just me or do Asian cultures have greater cultural identities than Western cultures?