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 These photo’s give an impression of the annual removal of the reeds that grow on the opposite waterway bank at the back of our garden, owned by the golf course. These guy’s use the professional power tools that we can only dream of. This machine clips the reed and collects it in one go. [...]  Blackbirds are really, really fond of our garden. And so we used to be fond of Blackbirds. This photo only shows one of the damages the birds do to our garden. Beautiful moss taken out of the joints between the flatstones of our “hidden terrace”. No moss is save in the garden and most [...]  Well made decking is very attractive in its own right and is part of a Japanese shoinzukuri style building such as our house. Although our decking is profiled, not normally the case in Japan, it can become slippery with algae and even mosses. This needs to be frequently removed e.g. with a wire-brush when dry, [...]  Edges, we have a lot of them in our garden. Most of them are surface-edges. In a number of earlier posts we showed the visible edges and the frequent maintenance that those require. Apart from visible edges we have plenty of surface edges that are situated out of sight, invisible to an average spectator [...]  The last maintenance attention we give the Pine in our garden (Pinus leucodermis, Abies procera, Pinus mugo, Pinus densiflora, etc.) in October/November is called momiage. This year the coloration, from green to brown, happened in just one or two weeks time, the first weeks in October. Momiage is about removal of old and dead [...]  This is a lightweight (not a cheap, also known as Rose-pruner) hand pruner or pruning shears used to cut twigs and thin branches. It has only one cutting-edge. Today the spring that pushes the blades open, broke in two parts. Although it was immediately obvious to me how I can repair this, and continue [...]  A couple of times per year we use fertilizer in the garden. In this post I don’t go into detail to answer the many related questions such as: What kind of manure is available ? In what quantities should I spread it ? At what time of year should it be put onto the [...]  Yesterday was a great day to take advantage of the nice dry and sunny weather. If not the, then perhaps one of the last of this year. A number of tidy up garden activities needed yet to be done and that is what we did. Some examples: Collecting and removing dead and fallen [...]  The Cotula groundcover would easily overgrow the tobi-ishi step stones. It may take a while before the path has disappeared but far before that point the characteristic beauty will have gone. The first photo shows the path as we like to see it after the edges where just cut. This is an activity without [...]  In the chapter on mosses, Mosses and lichen, we have a section named Unwanted mosses and that is where this post is about. The unwanted moss here is Hypnum cupressiforme (Dutch: Gesnaveld klauwtjesmos), and Hygrohypnum luridum (Hygrohypnum Moss, Drab Brook-moss, Dutch Gewoon spatwatermos). These mosses are very strong growers and survivors. When they first [...]  After Trimming ‘the five Islands of immortality’ topiary box, the ‘sea’ in which they float needs a tidy-up. Not only do we need to clean it from any leafs and debris left after trimming, we also remove weeds and mosses. Then we need to flatten the gravel area. Sometimes the soil has worked its [...]  To the left of the front entrance, beside the drive we used box to represent Hõrai-jima, ‘symbol of the islands of the Blest’ (Taoist myth) sometimes represented as mountainous islands, houraiseki. Here ‘the five Islands of immortality’. These islands where thought to float in a remote sea, carried on the backs of giant turtles. [...]  In my post Wisteria sinensis sprouts and runners I also wrote about sprouts. In particular sprouts and shoots need continued attention. Converting green shoots that grow 50 cm (2 feet) each week, into a short woody flower spur requires regular attention in particular during the July-August period. Shoots that grow in places where we [...]  Insects can cause a number of pests. Here we address two insect specimen that, this year, caused a different type of harm. Honeybees and ants. During the work described in my post Trimming the topiary O-karikomi (buxus) sculpture the following strange things occurred. Bees, more specifically honeybees are frequently visiting the boxwood all over the [...]  In my post Tuning the hako-zukuri part of our main o-karikomi box topiary, I showed how the center part of the Main garden karikomi was trimmed. This was done because keeping the hako-zukuri part in the desired shape is much more time-critical than that of the parts. Where sometimes one annual trimming is sufficient [...]  These two Juniper, Juniperus media “blue” are regarded topiary shrubs, rather then trees, because they are kept so low and form the backdrop for the main garden tsukubai facility. This photo shows the backside, as seen from the waterfront. The plant in front (right) is still untouched whereas the one in the back has [...]  Keeping a full grown large-leaved strong grower in shape and within the desired size limits is a challenge in its own right. This photo was taken halfway through the pollarding-plus topping. In Hako-zukuri style Prunus lusitanica “tree” you can see how it looked a couple of weeks back. Note that the photo’s have been [...]  This Pleioblastus pygmaeus is one of the visual objects (see the definition in 2 – Design the architecture) of the Main garden tsukubai composition. Most of the bamboo in our garden only gets the simple version of bamboo pruning. That is the removal of old dead canes and any new ones that are growing out [...]  The Thuja occidentalis “Braband” hedgerown in the left garden was planted only two years ago, in July 2008. That first year this 30 meter (100 feet) long hedgerow of 100 evergreen thuja conifers was left alone. Then the following year, in 2009, we have leveled the top twigs and done a first trimming of [...]  Herb garden box-hedge trimming needs to be done twice per year. Depending on the growth-cycle the first time in any year can be limited to partial clipping (post Partial buxus clipping for way through) to ensure the pathway walk-trough and easy access to the different plant-compartments. Although a herb garden may not be the first [...] |
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