Bamboo « Tsubo-en Zen-garden diary

Frost damage 2011/2012, final damage report

As I already wrote in Frost damage, to survive or to die ? for the first time in the life of Tsubo-en we have major frost damage. Now in June we can draw conclusions. Although most of our Prunus Lusitanica in the frond garden had some or major damage, after careful pruning, all are [...]

Frost damage, to survive or to die ?

As mentioned in my earlier post Tracks in the snow we had an unusual winter with extreme frost. This is the first time ever that we have substantial frost damage. Although we have previously had these low temperatures and minor damages, the combination of factors this year was very different and fatal to some […]

Repairing the bamboo fence (take gaki)

Our small bamboo fence (take gaki) was constructed in the Yotsume-gaki style. Constructed and placed in 2009 the fence now required repair and maintenance. A bamboo fence or take gaki ( 竹垣 ) is an important object in many Japanese gardens. Like woods bamboo can last for years in the outdoors with proper maintenance. […]

Bamboo pruning, Pleioblastus pygmaeus

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 […]

Bamboo runner alert

In my post Bamboo shoots in unexpected places this subject was briefly addressed. Today I will go into more detail and show you the impact of not taking, or not taking sufficient measures, to restrict bamboo in its abundant expansion. Even when the correct measures are taken one still needs to frequently check for […]

Weeds, leafs and more

This is a post about gardening activities that must be and are performed on a regular basis, year round. Under the denominator “Bottom surface maintenance” we have brought together a whole list of activities. A number of these are very specific, like for example Gravel area’s and Keeping the groundcovers out of the gravel. […]

Bamboo shoots in unexpected places

Today we saw an example of unwanted bamboo-shoots. While we know how “sneaky” and persistent bamboo can be, we where again taken by surprise. As you can see this bamboo-shoot tried to penetrate restricted area by coming through a junction in the Left-garden pathway. In order to get there it had to work itself under […]