Gardens of the World : GYOEN NATIONAL GARDEN, Kyoto, Japan

There’s two Gyoen National Gardens in Japan – one is located in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo, and the other in Kyoto. This article relates to the latter.

The area covered by this garden used to be the residential area occupied by the court nobles during the Edo Period (1603-1867), when Kyoto was the capital of Japan. When Kyoto lost this function to Tokyo, many government buildings were removed and the national garden was created to preserve the Imperial Palace. After WWII, the garden was upgraded to a National Garden.

Many features typical of a Japanese garden can be found here, for example a pond and a tea house. Incidentally, Japanese garden designers got their inspiration from the Chinese and then adapted the layouts to their own environment and concepts of natural beauty.

Here are a few photos of this beautiful garden below. As for any garden, the landscape changes with the seasons. It was March when those photos were taken, so there are few plants in full bloom. However it is easier, at that time of the year, to appreciate other more permanent aspects of the vegetation and of the landscape.

(Interestingly, most gardens I visited in Japan had bilingual labels - Japanese and English, including the latin name. Very convenient for identification!)

First the pond: a massive one-piece stone is used as a bridge over a stream going to the pond. Although access to the bridge was closed it was possible to walk around part of the pond. In the background is the tea house.

 

Although this horizontal vine on a treillis above part of the pond near the tea house was not labeled, I suspect it is a Japanese wisteria. Wisterias can be pruned and trained to grow horizontally (as below) instead of vertically to the top of trees. It is thus easier to have a better view of their gorgeous blooms.

 

 

This outcropping rock in the middle of the pond (below) was a convenient place for turtles to bask in the spring sun.

 

 

 

The tea house: tea houses can be quite an attraction by themselves in a Japanese garden. The vegetation growing around them is chosen to maximize peacefulness while enjoying one's tea in good company. The views of the garden from the inside of the tea house are also carefully planned to optimize the whole experience. This tea house is quite large (it was built for the nobility) and has two floors.

 

 

Here is the garden view one would get from the window below:

 

 

 

Some remarkable trees: the first tree below is a cherry tree (very precious to the Japanese, as the cherry blossom is their national flower). But this one must be very special. It looks like a very old tree that somehow fell to the ground, as we can see its stump covered by grass in the foreground. The interesting part is that from the trunk on the ground, in different places, are new shoots emerging as a whole group of new cherry trees, full of buds soon ready to open.

 



 

By clicking on the plaque photo below, the 'baby' cherry trees sprouting from the old trunk can be seen in full bloom on the lower photo.

 

Here are more examples of the great care the Japanese are taking for some of the trees that are of significance to them:

 

 

What would we do in Canada with horizontal branches growing towards the garden walkway - would we not merely chop them off before they get that big? Not so for Japanese landscapers : they just let them grow where they are and where they want to go. They give them a chance and simply support them (photos above). Here's a detailed view of one of those strong supporting ties:

 

 

Although (in my humble opinion) this particular one appears a little overdue for a loosening of its grip lest it will do more harm than good by choking the limb it's supposed to protect. That one is an exception though - the other ties I've seen (dozens of them) were usually fitting just fine. Just that aspect of garden maintenance - watching for all the ties and re-adjusting them accordingly - must be a daunting task!

And here (below) is a different type of protection - this time from damaging insects:

 

The type of wrapping for insect protection seemed to be of high quality and is tightly adjusted so one would assume it's efficient. Would we really bother here in Canada with all that trouble?

 

 

It might not be apparent at first glance but this photo below actually shows some sort of work of art made from garden waste. Its location is quite strange - on the roof of a small building somewhere in the middle of the garden. Quite unexpected indeed.

 

 

The Gyoen National Garden also has a museum which shows, among other things, traditional garden tools used by Japanese landscapers and some landscaping techniques (next two photos):

 

 

  

Finally, this article would not be complete without at least one image of some flowers. Here it is:

 

Although this shrub was not labeled I suspect it is an enkianthus, which is part of the heath family. I've seen several specimens in various gardens and parks in Japan and their early blooms have a nice fragrance.



 

(article and photos by Denise Motard) 

Gardens of the World : HAMARIKYU GARDEN, Tokyo, Japan

This garden is relatively new with regards to the usual longevity of gardens in Japan. It was turned into a public garden in 1946. The Hamarikyu Garden is situated along the Sumida River. The garden features a pond, a typical feature of Japanese gardens, and is surrounded by a moat filled by Tokyo Bay. On the garden site there used to be a villa belonging to the last shogun family, the Tokugawa (between 1600 and 1868).

 

There is a tree in there that predates the opening of the public garden by three centuries : a black pine that was meticulously trained to grow horizontally for one main branch starting low from the main trunk, while the other main branch was allowed to grow vertically as one would expect that a tree should grow.

 

What is so fascinating about that horizontal branch is how the Japanese, for so many generations, patiently trained it to the point where it is now a huge trunk in its own right. The plaque (below) mentions that this pine is one of the largest in Tokyo:

 

 

Below are some pictures of that tree from various angles. You can clearly see the huge posts used to support the horizontal trunk along a good part of its length.

 

 



This photo (above) shows how even the vertical part of the tree is supported. And below is a more distant view of that vertical part, with Tokyo buildings in the background and the horizontal part of the tree in the foreground.

 

 

 

 

 





The photo above shows some detail of the supporting posts for the horizontal part of this venerable black pine, while the one below gives an idea of what that part of the tree looks like when walking on the pathway.

 

 

Below is a view of the branching out of the horizontal part of the tree from the main trunk. The branching out is about one meter from the ground

 

 

 

(Please remember to click on any of the photos for a larger image.)

 

Aside from the above attraction, the Hamarikyu garden has a plum grove. Plum trees are a favorite for Japanese, after the cherry trees. Both are appreciated for their blooms, which occur early in the spring, the plum trees showing their delicate flowers first. It is a common sight, in Japanese gardens in the spring, to find visitors (including the Japanese themselves) taking photos of blooming plum trees (ume) and cherry trees (sakura). More will be said about the sakura in a future article.

 

Here is a sign below welcoming visitors to such a plum grove in this garden:

 

 

And here are (below) some of those beautiful plum tree blooms:

 

 

With the photo below it will be apparent that I have a liking of various tree shapes:

 

 

 

The tree label indicated it was a 'cockspur coral tree' (Erythrina crista-galli) and due to the early season (it was March when I visited this garden) I had no way of knowing if the tree was dead or not. It sure was pruned quite severely in any case!

 

 



 

 The photo above shows a mustard plot protected by a plastic mesh, presumably from some pests. Finding mustard growing in a public garden devoted mainly to trees and flowers comes as no surprise in a country like Japan, where edible greens of all kinds are actively grown in every available space.

Finally, I had to show this one below, a small palm tree (sorry I don't have the specific name) growing in this garden. The Tokyo area is not that cold for palm trees to be able to grow there.

(article and photos by Denise Motard)

 

Creating a pond

The January 2014 meeting of the Garden Club of PEI featured Chris Prouse, who has many years of experience creating his own ponds and other water features in his own back yard.  He says he has built 10 ponds, and nine were mistakes!

There are many types of ponds:

• natural
• cement
• pre-formed
• liner (Chris says this is the best choice)
• container (Chris says old bathtubs or discarded satellite dishes make a great container)

Site selection

Choose a site where you can dig at least 2 feet deep.  In a shady site, the pool will develop fewer algae problems.  You want to avoid being too close too close to overhanging trees, because falling leaves will have to be cleared out.  Decide if you want your pond to be the centrepiece of your backyard, or if you want it to be a hidden surprise.

Building the pond

The best site has a backslope.  Dig a hole at least 2 feet deep in front of the slope, and put a berm in front.  The pond should have two levels.  One level is about 6 inches deep, which will be for plants such as rushes.  The second area should hold at least 18 inches of water.  Use a sheet of styrofoam to stabilize the slope. Cover the bottom of the hole with old carpeting.  That will cushion the liner and protect it from punctures.  Buy a good quality pond liner that is at least 1/3 larger than the size of the hole, to allow for the depth and the overhang.  The liner must be one piece, to avoid leaks.  

An 18-inch pond will allow plants to overwinter, but will not support fish over winter.  Fish in a shallow pond must be brought inside for the winter.  Chris says his biggest mistake in building ponds was to not make them deep enough.  He says 18 inches is good, and 2 feet deep is better.  Other mistakes include a cement bottom that cracked, buying a cheap liner, and creating a pond that did not have a level bottom.  The bottom of the pond must be perfectly level, or the water will not be level.  

A submersible pump keeps the water flowing.  One option is to use a UV light to kill bacteria, and to build a filter box to keep the water clear.  You need an outside electricity source to plug in the pump.  Make sure the electrical source has a ground fault interrupter.  If you bury the electrical lines, feed them through a PVC pipe first to protect the wires from damage. Bury wires at least 6 inches deep.

Access

People, especially kids, are naturally drawn to ponds.  Make it easy to get close by building a small platform that slightly overhangs the edge of the pond. 

Plants

Submerged plants:  Waterlilies taken from the Agriculture Canada lily pond are very hardy. He contains the plant roots in nylon stockings, which will stretch to accommodate root growth.   

Floaters:  duckweed, water hyacinth

Wetland plants:  arrowhead plant, bull rushes, native grasses, elephant ear (taro), yellow flag iris.  

Around the margin of the pond:  Willow, siberian iris, lupins

Wildlife

Chris does not find that mosquitoes breed in his 18-inch deep pond, but they do appear in his shallower, smaller container water features.  The pond attracts birds, pond insects such as dragonflies, amphibians such as newts and salamanders and frogs.  The salamanders appear in the spring, lay eggs which hatch into a form that has external gills and walks on the bottom of the pond.  The mature salamanders disappear into the woods after breeding season.  Frogs appear for a short time, but do not lay eggs in the pond.  Racoons visit too.  Chris suggests stocking the pond with feeder goldfish, which grow quickly and are not expensive.  

Maintenance
Chris says in the 17 years of owning a pond, he has had to drain it only three times.  He drained it to tackle his waterlily plants, which were growing so profusely they had to be divided.  He says that the pond's water will eventually settle into a natural balance with little algae forming.  He does not use chemicals.

Container ponds
An old bathtub can become a bog garden or a water pond.  It can be planted with arrowhead and water plantain, which are free to dig up.