Japanese garden, Bagarmossen
Photo: Flygklubben / CC BY-SA 4.0, modified.
Overview
The Japanese Garden in Bagarmossen, also known as Japanska Trädgården i Bagis, is a community-maintained Japanese-inspired garden at Byälvsvägen in Bagarmossen, Stockholm, Sweden. It was created on a formerly overgrown 3,000 m² municipal green area and is described by its own site as “a quiet oasis in Bagarmossen” for meditative raking and garden care.
History
The garden was created by Pål Bergström, who lived at Byälvsvägen 38 and had a view over the area that later became the garden. According to the garden’s history page, the site had previously been a dense, neglected area of aspen, bird cherry, rowan and rubbish. Bergström received a user agreement with the municipality to manage the public land, on the condition that the area remained open to the public. In 2012, Bagisbloggen described the transformation of the 3,000 m² site into a Japanese garden, and the garden’s own history page states that Pål and Anneli Bergström moved to Småland in summer 2015, after which a group took over the user agreement and formed a board and association.
Design features
The garden was developed around a large central stone, with gravel “dry lakes” and an imagined water system made without actual water. Later additions included further stones, expanded dry-lake forms, a stream-like composition, a waterfall motif, moss areas, shaped and pruned trees and shrubs, benches, bridges, stone steps and fences made from reused material. Planting includes pine, aspen, maple, larch, Japanese yew, bird cherry, rowan, Japanese maple, azalea and boxwood. The garden is described as intended for slow walking and meditation, with the long-term idea of a tea-house-like destination on the rock above the garden.
Garden elements
Bridges
Enclosures
Stones
Current status
The garden continues as a public community garden in Bagarmossen. Its website presents it as a quiet oasis for meditative raking and garden care, and its Facebook/group materials invite people to help with watering, weeding, pruning and general maintenance. The garden is maintained through local volunteer involvement rather than as a formal institutional garden.