When I first came to Japan, I had very little money and always tried to save some by walking long distances within the city. This was when I found all these different garden styles which I didn’t see during my work as a gardener in Japan. Private gardens can’t usually...Continue Reading
Summer is a living nightmare for most in Japan with temperatures only getting higher in recent years. As a professional gardener living and working in Tokyo for the past seven years, I have no choice but to leave our lovely air-conditioned office and head to whichever garden we are...Continue Reading
Karikomi is a special design and pruning technique in a Japanese garden which is often seen done with plants of the Rhododendron family in Japan. It is separated into the usual karikomi and o-karikomi – a larger element in the garden put together by more than one shrub. What I...Continue Reading
When I visited Niigata last year in November, I found that the trees there are not protected in the way I knew from Tokyo and other regions of Japan. A large amount of snow in winter makes it necessary to create very strong protections for trees on Hokkaido and along...Continue Reading
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. This is part 12, in which I talk about the works in December. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3,...Continue Reading
The Kyoto Imperial Palace is a special place. A place full of tradition, elegance, beauty and national treasures. The maintenance of gardens in Kyoto is still highly rated, but even here, the Kyoto Imperial Palace is special. Today I would like to introduce two traditional techniques, which are still conducted...Continue Reading
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. This is part 11, in which I talk about the works in November. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3,...Continue Reading
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. This is part 10, in which I talk about the works in October. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3,...Continue Reading
Requested by one of our readers was an article about maintenance works throughout the year. I thought it would be nice to make a monthly series out of this. This is part 9, in which I talk about the works in September. You can find the other parts here: 1, 2, 3,...Continue Reading
When study gardening, one topic will eventually cross the ambitioned student: tree shapes. Today I want to introduce the tree shapes you might learn in Japan. These are, of course varying slightly from the typical forms in Europe or America. Some of them are unique to Japan. Tree shapes Natural...Continue Reading
