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Self-employed gardener & part-time at Bristol Zoo. Horticulture and gardening are my passion!

30/05/2026

Japan trip. Day 4 (17 May). Okayama Korakuen gardens 岡山後楽園. This stroll garden was completed in 1700 for the local daimyō, the local feudal lord. Even though damaged by severe floods in 1934 and then ww2 bombing, it was restored and remains exactly as designed thanks to extensive records, illustrations and plans.

1 the castle across the river dominates, but only from certain angles
2+19 a tea plantation and 3 agricultural plots, including rice fields. It's worth noting that originally, the whole area from the lake to the narrow end of the garden was agricultural. But one of the successive daimyō reduced the number of farmers to cut costs and replaced the fields with lawn 19.
4 Acer plantation 5 flowering cherry plantation 6 flowering plum (Ume) plantation
7 a towering Melia azedarach flowering as (or before) the leaves emerge
8 yes, this is an Acer hedge!
9 tea house with clipped mahonia, Dendropanax trifidus, Aucuba, Pinus...
10 iris field
11 12 an 8-plank bridge (yatsuhashi), all sections of varying length, forcing you to slow down. Planted with Iris almost ready to bloom
13 moss and lichen growing on an old wooden slate roof
14 one of the daimyō got a 6m hill built to get a nice view.
15 the cycads garden
16 carps in a pond, Miscanthus on the banks
17 an area left to go wilder, with stumps left behind, mushrooms growing
18 lotus pond

Thanks to () and for making it possible for me to go on this trip organised by .

#岡山後楽園

26/05/2026

Japan trip. Day 3 (16 May). Tokyo. Imperial Palace East Gardens. 皇居東御苑. This is a public garden, no booking required, no fee. It's also different in that it was built in the 1960s and opened in '68 on what would have been the Edo Castle. The gates, moats and the amazing stone walls 1 are a reminder of what it might have been. Many plants in the open-style garden are labelled, which is great, and there's a traditional stroll garden called Ninomaru around a small pond.

The usual Cinnamomum camphora 2, a tree with spiritual meaning so magnificent old specimen abound, the annoying Dendropanax trifidus 3, amazing bark but I found it difficult to i.d. with its leaves both simple oval AND three-lobbed (check the TSO page), more amazing peeling bark of Prunus zippeliana (labelled Laurocerasus)

4. There's a cool interpretation on 13 species of bamboo 5, my favourite here is Phyllostachys edulis 'Heterocycla' with its cool rings 6.

7 is a formal azaleae hedge containing a long grass area, it's appealing to me visually, and less maintenance, less water, more wildlife. 8 busy bee on Ilex rotunda.

9 is the typical red pine (Pinus densiflora) but trained (and propped) upright, almost in a 3D espalier. Cornus kousa 11. The feathery foliage of Albizia julibrissin 12.

Bare and twisted bark of Lagerstroemia indica over the water, 13, I'm hoping the specimens at the bottom of the Wisley rose garden get like that! Cool rocks 14 with dense planting of grasses, Azaleae, Farfugium japonicum...
15 stepping stones on mortared pebbles reminding us of a pebbly sea shore.
16 Rhodotypos scandens.
17 Iris beds.

A naturalistic wooded area around the pond has been supplemented with additional flowering plants extending the seasons of interest for humans, but also wildlife, see 18. The gatehouse to the garden 19.

Thanks to () and for making it possible for me to go on this trip organised by .

21/05/2026

Japan trip. Day 3. Tokyo. Kiyosumi Gardens
清澄庭園. A Meiji -period garden (1878) originally built for the Mitsubishi founder for his employees and guests, partially destroyed by the Great Kanto earthquake, restored and reopened to the public later.
This is a garden of stones, many named individual noteworthy stones 4, but also loads of stone bridges and stepping stones 5 6.
Hints of pink with Oxalis (maybe debilis) 7 and the orchid Bletilla striata 8, not quite there for the hydrangeas 9, and the Iris japonica are almost gone here 10, whilst the next set of irises are about to line this beautiful stone pathway on the water 5.
This is a mountain lantern 11, specifically a yama-doro, with natural irregular shapes, surrounded by ground cover of sasa bamboo, Rhododendron indicum (Azalea), all shaded under a Castanopsis sieboldii 12 on a small island. This a snow lantern 12 Yukimi-gata with its wide top, on the edge of water, and this ornate roof is on a dai-dōrō lantern 13.
Most Japanese gardens want to give an impression of nature or a memory of a natural feature and this represents Mount Fuji 12 14, with a very long dangerously leaning and propped up black pine over the water in the foreground 14. More pines on the water 's edge, with a mound of Taxus cuspidata 15. Pagoda 16. Heron 17.
Finally, the very formal features an areas of the gardens are set-off by a carpet of green grass, repaired with rolls of turf 18, struggling to establish in the heat.
Thanks to () and for making it possible for me to go on this trip organised by .

#清澄庭園

19/05/2026

Japan trip. Day 2. Tokyo. Rikugien Gardens
六義園. Edo-period (18rh century) stroll garden. This one has 88 views inspired by the classic Chinese Waka poems.

1 Framing the view from inside this shelter.
2 3 Woodland planting around pool and stream with ferns, Houttuynia cordata, Acers in the background.
4 Spot the crane.
5 amazing structures, bamboo, textures
6 The Great Mother Weeping Cherry Tree
7 Podocarpus macrophylla with bright green new growth
8 Lantern and black pine
9 Chionanthus
10 Hydrangea cutting. A computer translated information board says about cuttings: "The hydrangeas passed down in this way have transcended places and connected people's feelings."
11 Hydrangea serrata 'Beni-temari', the first to flower on this dedicated hydrangea hill, in full shade.
12 hydrangea list
13 Weird downward growth on Ginkgo
15 Candle pruning hasn't happened here yet.
16 Mature trained pine
17-19 various great trees and bark (what are they?)

Thanks to () and for making it possible for me to go on this trip organised by .

17/05/2026

Japan trip. Day 2. Tokyo. Koishikawa Korakuen
小石川後楽園. We had the honour of being guided by the head gardener, the garden manager, a biodiversity specialist and a guide. Thank you!
This is another 17th century Edo stroll garden, but the oldest surviving in Tokyo, including an original wooden temple build back then. There are strong Chinese influences here, the Full Moon bridge (you must include the reflection!), the Nobedan path in a chinese rustic style which mixes natural stones and straight cut stones, ornate gates, and several views replicating Chinese locations.
Several areas of woodland with mixed loose planting of ferns, fatsia, glossy kidney-shaped Farfugium japonicum, and a few camelia and azalea, and Houttuynia cordata finding nooks and crannies to grow everywhere. Vast mounds are covered with sasa bamboo, cut back down to ground level with hedge trimmers once a year. This is much less demanding than grass turf and, at least from a distance, look a lush uniform green ground cover.
There are iris beds, sadly not in flower yet, crossed by a plank Yatsuhashi bridge, Ume grove( plum blossom trees, prunus mume) in reds and white, also used to make liquorice, but is poisonous raw.

Thanks to , and for making this trip possible for me.

16/05/2026

Why oh why? 100s of Ginkgo savagely pruned like this. No, it's not cloud pruning. The regrowth is all over, including the base of the tree. My favourite tree 😭

15/05/2026

Japan trip, day 1, Tokyo. Hama-rikyu Gardens. A typical stroll garden, 17th century Edo period, but not attached to the shogun's residence: rather, the Sh**un would leave the castle and come here for a picnic and some entertainment. The main leisure was falconry with advanced techniques used to catch ducks.There are large lakes and ponds, but these are of salt water being fed directly by the Pacific Ocean, from a time when there were no sky scrappers on artificial islands, seen all around the garden today.
Hybrid Rhododendron (Satsuki azalea) flowering 7+9, Iris not quite out yet 10, old Acer 14, Cryptomeria japonica, Pinus thunbergii and densiflora 13, including a 300-year-old specimen 11, and some damaged by air raid in 1945 still going strong 6, Osmanthus, Ginkgo 12, Ilex crenata, and beautifully trained old Wisteria 1+2. Some cool trees Aphananthe aspera, Cinnamomum camphora and Castanopsis sieboldii.
I'm also enjoying the textures, from stone paths to tea house rendered walls 16, and of course bamboo fencing and structures 17 18.
The water wildlife is of course saltwater based, birds and butterflies around, but of course not a huge amount of pollinator-friendly flowering plants right now. I was surprised by the large areas of newly laid turf (a struggling small patch 19), it's May now with temperatures above 25C already, it will need constant watering to establish. Would a slightly wilder less incentive green cover detract from the spirit of the place?

Thanks to , and for making this trip possible for me.

06/05/2026

My Acer babies, grown from seed! Going backwards... 2 years old bunch ready to be potted up, old trays with strays still germinating showing the variety from cross pollination, a backwards step by step of my new seeds this year after their stay in the fridge... fingers crossed!

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