Japanese sheared azalea bushes

One of the main focus of the garden are a number of sheared azalea bushes. These are to be seen in many Japanese gardens but not common in western gardens. I suppose you either love them or hate them! I love them.

Above is a picture of a pair of sheared azaleas in the garden of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Sometimes they are by themselves or some times in groups - usually three and almost certainly an odd number.

The bush above is pretty much as it was planted in 2003 as taken out of the container and in a fairly rough shape. I cut back all the long shoots to an approximately round shape. At least with an azalea you can trim as much as you want and each trimmed stalk will sprout quite easily. You will need to trim at least twice a year; once just after the bush has flowered and the second time in the autumn.

It is very useful to buy a small handheld electric trimmer as doing it by hand can be a slow process and it is difficult to make smooth curves!

The trimmed / sheared azalea in 2004, filling out nicely.

The trimmed / sheared azalea in 2005 in full bloom. This is when the shearing becomes really worthwhile!

The trimmed / sheared azalea in 2006. I guess I will try and keep the bush at this size in coming years.

Here is one of the sheared azaleas as seen in the winter of 2006.

take from = http://www.myjapanesegarden.com/

The Japanese Garden Ornaments

I do not intend to have too many ornaments in the garden, but two that were most necessary were a granite bridge and a garden lantern. Most of these items are imported from Japan and in the the UK the following items can be purchased from Redwood Stone.

Redwood Stone The Stoneworks West Horrington Wells, Somerset BA5 3EH Tel (01749) 677777 http://www.redwoodstone.co.uk

Another company to purchase Japanese granite ornaments is Japanese Garden Supplies, http://www.japanesegardensupplies.co.uk

1300cm granite bridge - weighing in a 200kG this definitely a four-man lift!

60cm Rokkaku Yukimi Lantern

Training Japanese Garden Shrubs

Maples

I'm often asked how to create the compact shrubs found in Japanese gardens such as the palmatum just coming into leaf below. The secret is to use the same techniques as used in bonsai. For example, with maples, as soon as the leaf buds start to burst in the spring, watch for the first pair of leaves to form. Shortly after this, a shoot will start to grow - VERY quickly - from the junction of the two leaves. As soon as you can pinch this off leaving just the pair of leaves. This needs to be done every year with no exception! This will prevent the shoots growing too long and a pair of buds will develop in the following year. If any shoots grow later in the year that stray outside of the wanted shape cut them off. If the tree is very strong, all the leaves can be cut off and a new set of smaller leaves will grow and maybe a a few new buds will develop back on old wood. Further info at: http://www.bonsaiprimer.com/pruning/leaftrim/leaftrim.html

The above done in combination with pulling branches down with rope to hold them for one season in a more horizontal position to force horizontal growth will produce an excellent shape within a couple of years.

Japanese Palmatum Maple after 15 years in training

Another maple showing some training ropes after 15 years in training

Pines (Pinus Parviflora or "white pine")

The four foot white pine also needs to be trained otherwise it will run away itself. To prevent this it should not be planted in the ground otherwise a tap root will form and it will well nigh be impossible to keep a tight habit.

As acquired last year	After one year's TLC

There are many different ways to train white pines which consists of a variety of activities:

• Trimming the roots and keeping the tree in a suitably large pot.

• Tying down, wiring and trimming branches.

• NEVER cut off a bud on a pine unless there is another bud farther down the branch as this might mean that the whole branch might die. However, if there is a branch that is too straggly cutting it back could force the tree to bud. An example of this can be seen below where two candles were cut off in the autumn and several new buds developed over winter ready to shoot in the spring.

New buds forming on a white pine.

In the spring the tree will develop 'candles' and if foliage 'pads' or 'clouds' are wanted, then the candles need to pinched back in a careful manner. Here's how I would do it.

• When the main candles are about 1" long (before the needles elongate) in the early spring (April), break break off the longest one if there are more than two to leave just two candles.

• There should now be one long one and one short one. In a random manner over the tree, pinch off 2/3 of the long shoots. Do not do this to the whole tree at once as this could shock it to much, but spread this activity over a two week period. As the smaller second candle grows bigger than the first pinched candle, pinch this off as well. Doing this before the needles form, means that there is less damage to the needles and you do not end up with unsightly brown tips to the needles. You should end up with shoots that are all the same length.

• Multiple new buds should form later in the year and the needles should be smaller.

• This can be done after needles have formed but it cutters have to be used and it is easy to damage the needles.

Original bud pair - April	Long bud pinched back

Further advice on training a white pine can be found at: http://www.bonsai-tree-store.com/white_pine.html or http://www.bonsaiprimer.com/pruning/pines/pineprun.html

Japanese Garden Plants

One of the principle features of Japanese gardens are the plants of course. I have been training (to some degree) a number of plants in my garden for several years. These included three Scottish pines, a palmatum maple, a trident maple and an English beech. I also have purchased a several imported garden (patio) trees from Japan these include a white pine, standard wisteria and a taxus (yew).

I have several English woodland rhododendrons.

An English beech tree

The Japanese Palmatum

The Trident maple

Another transplanted Japanese maple

My first Scottish pine

My second Scottish pine

The imported Japanese wisteria standard was bought from:

Garden Style, Wrecclesham Hill, FARNHAM, Surrey, GU10 4JX UK
Telephone : 01252 735331
Email: sales@gardenstyle.co.uk
web: http://www.gardenstyle.co.uk

Garden style is highly recommended because they have a massive stock of MATURE plants. MInd you, they are both large and pricey!

The beautiful 4ft patio white pine grown in a nursery
near to Mount Fuji in Japan and bought from http://www.dai-ichibonsai.com/

The imported Taxus (yew)

The above two patio trees were obtained from:
Dai-ichi Bonsai
Hillier Garden Centre
Priors Court Road
Hermitage
Newbury, Berks RG18 9TG
+44 1635 200667
http://www.dai-ichibonsai.com/

Multiple dwarf azaleas that will be trained into clumps in
coming years

Dwarf azaleas that will be trained into clumps in
coming years

The iris' (sibirica 'Baby Sister') potted up after
reception via mail order from Fours Seasons Perennials for use in the iris pond.

Four Seasons Perennials web: http://www.fsperennials.co.uk email: contact@fsperennials.co.uk phone +44 (0) 1508 488 344

Phyllostachys vivax Aureocaulis bamboo in the teahouse garden

Phyllostachys nigra bamboo in the teahouse garden

Prunus pendula Pendula Rosea