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.

GARDENS OF THE WORLD - TE KAINGA MARIRE, New Plymouth, New Zealand

Te Kainga Marire means ‘peaceful encampment’ in Maori. This garden has been created on a private property in the middle of New Plymouth, a city of 53,000 on the Tasman Sea coast of the Northern Island of New Zealand, which is part of the Taranaki region.

The owners of the property, Valda Poletti and Dave Clarkson, began work on this garden back in 1972, when it was pretty much wasteland. Over the years they planted many native trees and bushes, being careful to follow the natural association of plants in the wild as much as possible. The main goal was to make this place a ‘bird-friendly’ garden.

After all those years of efforts they have succeeded, proof of which is the return in the area of the ‘tui’ bird, a large forest dwelling honey eater native to New Zealand (photos below). Another ‘proof’ is the recognition bestowed to the garden by the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture Gardens Trust. This trust provides a list of private and public gardens to visit, which are rated using a star system, six stars being the highest rating. Te Kainga Marire holds that prestigious rating and is listed as a ‘garden of international significance’ by the trust.

Here are some photos of this remarkable garden:

The hebe plant, a New Zealand native, is grown in various areas of the world now as an ornamental for its showy flowers that attract butterflies. There's also a Hebe Society which promotes the cultivation of hebes and other native plants in New Zealand.

The Marlborough rock daisy (below) is a native of the South Island Marlborough region, especially in the Kaikoura area. They are now used as an ornamental in gardens as well.

 

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The tree on the left is called 'titoki', a New Zealand native short tree (up to 9 m high. It is among the most planted native tree in that country. The fruit of this tree is a favorite food of the New Zealand wood pigeon (photo below).



The garden co-owner/creator, Valda Poletti, is showing a nikau palm, the only palm tree native to New Zealand.

The fruit of that palm are another favorite food of the wood pigeon. The tree had many uses with the Maoris - food, food wrapping, basket and floor weaving, etc.

The pomme reinette du Canada (Golden Russet apple) below is, in spite of its French name, a cultivar from England dating from the 1800s. In this garden the tree is trained along a timber fence using the espalier method.

This mandarin tree grows in a natural setting with New Zealand wind grass (anemanthele lessoniana) in the foreground. This type of grass (zones 8-10) is popular with garden designers in North America.

The rangiora (above), is a small bushy tree endemic to New Zealand. Also called the 'Bushman's friend' because if its large leaves with a soft furry underside with antiseptic properties. It also had a variety of medicinal uses with the Maoris.

FERNS IN NEW ZEALAND

For a country with a temperate climate, New Zealand has a very large number of fern species, around 200. Among them is the tree fern, which can grow up to 20 meters high depending on the species.

The photo below shows a 'Rough Tree Fern' (dicksonia squarrosa),  which is growing near - and above - the garden creator's home. This tree fern is endemic to New Zealand and common. The trunks were used as fence posts by Maoris. For people unaccustomed to see such a giant fern, it is quite an impressive sight! 

This one below is the Golden Tree Fern (dicksonia fibrosa). Both species can reach heights of up to 6 meters.

This welcoming sign above describes the main features of Te Kainga Marire.

The tui bird (photos above) is attracted the same way we attract hummingbirds here in PEI - with a feeder (shown at the bottom of the photos) filled with a specially prepared nectar.

However this is not the only bird attracted to those feeders. The wood pigeon (below) also comes for a sip from time to time.

GLOWWORMS  : although I don't have photos of them there are even glowworms on that property. The garden creators have indeed built a special tunnel for them, through which we can walk and see those unusual animals. They are not real worms but rather insect larvae with bioluminescence. In New Zealand the glowworm is the larva of the fungus gnat, a carnivorous insect that lives in colonies of hundreds, so their light is enough to read a book!



Te Kainga Marire has been featured in 2008 in a BBC televised series entitled ‘Around the World in 80 gardens’, by Monty Don. Here’s the link to this report: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6rTZbVjYbo
 

(article and photos by Denise Motard)

Gardens of the World - Auckland Domain, New Zealand

The Auckland Domain is Auckland's oldest park and one of the largest. It is located near downtown, includes the Auckland War Memorial Museum and is also near the Auckland City Hospital, the largest in New Zealand.

It includes the Wintergarden with two glass houses as worth visiting as the Domain outside.

There's also a 'Sensory Garden' designed especially for the visitors with disabilities, an unfrequent feature in a public garden.

Here are some photos from this domain-park-garden:

 This is what the glass house looks like from the outside.

  

The glass house has a nice collection of pitcher plants.

 

 

Pitcher plants are carnivorous and the ones shown here grow in South East Asia, Madagascar, Australia, and India.

They are climbers.

 

 

 

 

Above is a central piece near the entrance, a lotus basin - the large leaves are those of the sacred blue lotus.

 

The plant below - acalypha - has several names : cat tail, copperleaf, chenille plant. It is cultivated as a house plant for its flowers. Easy to see why. 

 





 

This tree is so large that the child sitting on its roots is dwarfed.

 



 

 

The Auckland Domain also has a Sensory Garden:

 





 

The goal of a sensory garden is to provide visitors with an experience that appeals to as many of the senses as possible, not just visual or olfactory. Features would include raised beds to eye level for someone in a wheelchair for example, with plants to touch to feel the various textures of leaves and flowers and seeds and trunks. Sometimes music can be included. This is what the central row looks like in that sensory garden:

 

Mandevillas (above) are climbers with spectacular fragrant flowers, a popular choice for many gardeners around the world. It would be considered an annual here - if we can grow it at all - due to being a zone 10-11 plant.

 

 

Finally, the photo above shows the Wintergarden main building from the outside.

 

(article and photos by Denise Motard)

 

 

GARDENS OF THE WORLD SERIES

A new series of articles will start this month on the blog of the Garden Club of PEI.

Each article will feature one or more garden(s) in another country or province.

Members who have travelled to other countries or provinces and have brought back photos of gardens are welcome to share them on this blog if they would like to. All you have to do is contact the club at : gardenclubofpei@gmail.com.

Those articles will be published in the winter to help us maintain some gardening mood in spite of the harshness of that season for growing any kind of vegetation.

Stay tuned!


Gyoen National Garden, Kyoto - photo Denise Motard

Pruning tips

The November 2013 meeting of the Garden Club of PEI welcomed Gary Schneider, who manages MacPhail Woods in Orwell.  He talked about pruning to promote healthy shrubs and trees.  "A good reason to prune is to keep the tree healthy," says Gary.  "I love seeing healthy trees in a healthy setting."  Gary has held pruning workshops for the past 15 years, and he cares about good techniques.

"Some of the best plants start very poorly," says Gary.  "Pruning well can improve plants considerably.  Plants respond well to good pruning. Prune early and prune often."

Smart selection:  Understand the conditions that make individual plants thrive.  Put the right plant in the right place.  Poor plant growth can result from poor nutrients in the soil, or from placing a plant in a location that is not suitable.  Try to put each plant in a location that is closest to its natural state with respect to amount of light, soil composition, and soil moisture.  Some examples:

• Red oaks need a large space because they grow quickly into a big tree.  Don't plant them close to a building.  Don't plant something you know will outgrow the space and think you can prune it back to the size you want.

• Yellow birches planted in the open will develop a crooked stem, and a rounded shape and sprout lots of branches like an apple tree.  In nature, yellow birches grow in a crowded area in dappled shade, and grow tall and slender with few branches because they are reaching towards the sun.

If branches are crowded too closely together, their connection to the main tree stem will be very weak.  You need to cut out some of the crowded branches to allow room for growth and to allow for a firmer bond.  

Gary has a particular dislike for Norway maples and Scots pine.  Both are non-natives, and are poor choices for PEI.  Norway maples are very susceptible to black tar spot and other fungal disease.  Scots pine have very weak branches that break easily.  "I've seen hundreds of Scots pine, and I have yet to see a beautiful one on PEI."

  

Trees respond well to being pruned in the right place.  Pruning at the wrong place will cause trees to respond poorly.  At the base of the branch is a swollen area called the branch collar.  Make your cut just outside that branch collar.  This type of cut will leave a nub sticking out of the main tree stem.  After growing for a few years, the stub will be covered over and healed.  If there is disease in the cut branch, the tree will wall off  the infection if it is pruned properly.  

Do not cut flush with the main tree stem.  A branch collar cut is much smaller in diameter than cutting flush with the tree stem.  A smaller cut will heal faster.  Also, if the cut is not completely straight, the wound will not heal evenly all the way around.  

Poor pruning may cause blight.  Do not lop off the tops of trees because that causes many branches to sprout from the cut top.

Pollarding: 

This is a pollarded plane tree in Geneva, Switzerland.  The branches are cut every year at the same spot to prevent the trees from reaching their full height.  In the summer when they leaf out, they form perfect balls of green leaves.  I'm sure they are not as pretty in the winter, when those monstrous knobby branches are revealed.

The leader:  If the leader (the top branch that points straight up) is cut off, two or more side branches will straighten up and there will be multiple leaders.  With one leader intact, the other branches will flatten out in search of more light.  If the leader dies or is cut off or chewed off by an insect or squirrel, pick the straightest branch and tie it up on the dead leader.  Prune away other competing branches.  

If pruning is done well, it is a flat, clean cut that has a good chance of healing well.  Crowded branches are more likely to crack or split the tree.  A natural break or split will not heal.  

The compressed tissue between two crowded branches is dead.  When the branches get older and heavier, the tree will split.  That is a perfect place for moisture and mould and rot to set in.

Sealing a cut is like putting a dirty bandage on it.  Water will eventually make its way under the sealant, and create a spot for mould and rot to set in. 

Red oaks often have a lot of dead branches.  The tree will respond favourably to having all the dead branches removed.  

Tools:  do not use a chain saw to prune trees.  Do not use anvil pruners (they come together and crush the stem)  A clean cut will close more quickly.

Use bypass shears.  They cut like scissors.    Gary recommends the ARS brand.  They cost about $60 and are made in the US, and are even better than Felco.  When cutting with bypass shears, place the blade against the main stem.  

Pruning saws can't be sharpened, but you can replace the blades. Generally, saws cut on the push stroke.  Japanese blades cut on the pull stroke, and are easy to control. 

sources:  saws:  www.bigbeartools.com has tools that Lee Valley does not carry.  Silky is a good brand.

www.bapequipment.com for ARS bypass shears or corona bypass shears

Garry also carries a sharp knife to smooth out cuts.

When dealing with a crack in a stem, cut in and scrape out loose bark and dead tissue.  The wound will heal faster.  

Use a holster to prevent losing a set of shears or saw.

When cutting, make your first cut away from the final cut, just to take away the weight of the branch and reduce the risk of breakage. You can even prune buds by rubbing them off with your fingers.  

You want branches to be no more than 1/4 to 1/3 the diameter of the main stem.  If the branches are bigger than that, they should be cut off.  

Shrubs - each have different pruning needs.  

• black currants:  cutting off old wood at the bottom will rejuvenate the plant.

• lilacs:  when they flower only at the top, it means the bottom branches are not getting enough light.  Cut off up to 1/3 of old wood. Don't cut off just the top growth. but don't cut off right at ground level either, because that causes a riot of growth.  You want to create dappled shade.

When to prune:  Ideally, the best time to prune is on a beautiful day in February.  But in reality, Gary prunes all year long.  Prune to repair damage any time of the year. If a tree has been damaged, but still has a good root mass, cut it off and it will sprout again and grow quickly. 

Gary suggests that people out for a walk in the woods should take their pruners with them.  Stop and cut off damage as you see it.  That is a great way to improve the forest.

  

Gary invites anyone interested to get involved with plantings in Fernwood, Morrell, and Charlottetown.

For more information about MacPhail Woods, visit www.macphailwoods.org