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

Incarvillea mairei

UBC Botanical Garden started in 1916 with 900 species. By the late 1930s, the Botanical Garden included significant collections of British Columbia natives, willows, alpines, aquatics and medicinal plants, as well as native and exotic trees in the campus arboretum. Unfortunately, much of the old collections were lost or integrated with the campus plantings. The only remnants visible today are some very fine trees in the original arboretum.

Today, the University of British Columbia Botanical Garden collections include those of the main garden, the Botanical Garden Nursery and Nitobe Memorial Garden. Nitobe Memorial Garden is an authentic Japanese tea and stroll garden, but is also a documented collection of Japanese and British Columbia native plants.

Collections policy at UBC Botanical Garden follows a number of important criteria. These include providing plants and plant materials for academic study and research (based primarily on germplasm of documented wild origin), using plants to create attractive public displays, and providing the public with new plants through partnerships with local horticulture industry.

University of British Columbia Botanical Garden houses a number of significant plant group collections, these include: Acer, Clematis, Cornus, Epimedium, hardy Eucalyptus, Hebe, Lardizabalaceae, Lindera, Magnolia, Rhododendron, Sorbus, Styracaceae, BC native flora, alpines and Chinese flora.

information

NSALG

The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners home page. NSALG has long been recognised as the national representative for allotment gardeners

South Western Allotments Association

The new voice of the allotment movement. Advice on all types of allotment issues. Start your own association, insurance, help if your site is under threat. On a waiting list? We can help you get a new site up and running

Scottish Allotments and Gardens Society

SAGS works for allotment sites and plot holders throughout Scotland to protect sites from developers, preserve skills in gardening and design and promote the value of allotments.

FEDAGA

The Federation of Edinburgh and District Allotments and Gardens Associations. FEDAGA is the representative body for allotments sites in Edinburgh and district. Our aim is to work towards a situation where allotments in Edinburgh are fully utilised.

Living Collections

The University of British Columbia Botanical Garden collections include those of the Main Garden, the Botanical Garden Nursery and Nitobe Memorial Garden. Nitobe Memorial Garden is an authentic Japanese tea and stroll garden, but is also a documented collection of Japanese and British Columbia native plants. Collections policy at UBC Botanical Garden follows a number of important criteria. These include providing plants and plant materials for academic study and research (based primarily on germplasm of documented wild origin), using plants to create attractive public displays, and providing the public with new plants through partnerships with local horticulture industry.

University of British Columbia Botanical Garden houses a number of significant plant group collections, these include: Acer, Clematis, Cornus, Epimedium, hardy Eucalyptus, Hebe, Lardizabalaceae, Lindera, Magnolia, Rhododendron, Sorbus, Styracaceae, BC native flora, alpines and Chinese flora.

Plant Conservation

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Conserving plants internationally and nationally through partnerships and research

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Research and Conservation

University of British Columbia Botanical Garden and Centre for Plant Research has a dual role in conservation. First, it contributes to the knowledge underpinning biodiversity science and ecosystem conservation. Phylogenetic studies of biodiversity and studies of the variation patterns of rare and endangered taxa are part of that process. Secondly, for Plant Research contributes to conservation by maintaining ex situ living material of wild-sourced material of rare plants.

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Global and National Outlook

Although the Research has an international (particularly Asian) remit, it is also active in national conservation efforts. This national initiative is a cooperative effort among Canada's major research-oriented botanical gardens to identify, study, preserve and restore Canadian rare plants. The consortium also fosters sustainable management of Canadian plant biodiversity.

Currently, the national seed bank project will aid Canadian conservation efforts by helping to preserve the genetic diversity of Canadian plants, through storing a documented collection of plant germplasm.

Winter Damage To Date

took some Friends of the Garden (FOGs) around the garden early this morning to examine a bit of the winter damage caused by the cold and heavy snowfall of the preceding few weeks. Many thanks to the horticulturists who suggested highlights to visit. Also, a thank you to the FOG "tour volunteers" for recording notes, typing them, and seeking feedback / suggestions for future tours.

For this week, I was both the tour guide and videographer, so the video isn't as dynamic as I hope it will be in future postings. Anyway, here's the video snippet of some of the tour:

Here are a few notes (as compiled by one of the tour attendees) from this first FOGs Walk n' Learn.

Location 1: Courtyard & Fence just east of the shop plant centre -- off the main walkway

• Modest snow damage to the Arbutus which had been winter pruned and new shoot growth allowed. There is also some frost damage.
• There is vole damage throughout the beds and the sub-shrubs and perennials will require spring pruning.
• The Nandina is totally brown and will need to be cut right back and allowed to regrow.
• Holboellia vine on the fence is very robust and together with the weight of the snow has brought down the fence
• Some lost branches from the hemlock

Location 2: Moon Gate

• The load of the snow on the Sinocalycanthus pressed it down and revealed a young Schefflera alpina planted by Peter Wharton and apparently totally healthy
• Distylum racemosum has again suffered major damage due to its dense foliage and requires a lot of maintenance. This shrub is due for removal

Location 3: Food Garden

• Broccoli was removed from the Food Garden due to its very strong smell as it rotted under the snow
• Cauliflower was also rotten - unable to withstand the freezing temperatures.

Location 4: Physic Garden

• The yew hedge was almost pushed to the ground by the weight of snow, but rebounded "like a Russian gymnast"!

Location 5: Alpine Garden

• Salix matsudana 'Tortuosa' has lost several large branches and will be removed.
• Pinus thunbergii also lost large branches and will probably also be removed.
• Genista tenera was so badly damaged with frost at the centre it has to be removed and will be a great loss to the landscape at that point in the Garden.
• Araucaria angustifolia was planted last year and is still only about a meter high with little root growth - it is completely brown.
• Hebes are not looking very good but will probably survive.
• Leptospermum rupestre has lost several branches and been quite severely pruned
• Eucalyptus coccifera has seemingly responded to the cold weather using its fire response to produce many tiny branches from the main trunks (from cold winters in previous years)
• Grevillea victoriae has been damaged but will survive.

The scent of, possibly, the Azara was very pleasant and strong and the Anna's male hummingbird and his friends were very much in evidence around their favourite grevillea.

Winter Buds

Here are some photographs taken by Randal Mindell during a Friends of the Garden Walk n' Learn on Wednesday morning, January 28. I invited Randal along since he needed to become familiar with the new camera as part of his main job.

Although it was a cold morning, we had a look at the following buds: Ruscus hypoglossum, brussel sprouts, Petasites albus (just emerging from the ground!), Cladrastis kentukea, Quercus macrocarpa, Sorbus decora, Aesculus octandra, Quercus garryana, Acer pensylvanicum, Fraxinus americana 'Royal Purple', Rhus typhina and Cornus kousa.

Acer pensylvanicum: note the stalked buds, typical of the snakebark maples.

Aesculus octandra: just plain cool.

Cornus kousa: these buds are described as turbinate -- wonder why?

Fraxinus americana 'Royal Purple': in the second photograph, note how the branches flatten at the buds.

Rhus typhina:

Catkin Walk

The February 11, 2009 Walk and Learn for the Friends of the Garden was on the topic of catkins. These are some of the plants we encountered and ideas we discussed:

Food Garden

• Corylus avellana (common hazelnut or common filbert) -- long pendulous pale yellow male catkins and shorter female catkins with small red nodule on the stem above the catkin. Shed pollen in December and January in Vancouver. Protective measure ensures complete pollen distribution by gradual catkin development on each tree. Wind pollinated.

Native Garden

• Alnus rubra (red alder) -- Catkins develop on bare branches in late winter. Male catkins elongate to about 5 to 10 cm and become dull yellow as they shed pollen in March. Small female catkins are in clusters of 3 to 5 become hard and woody resembling a small conifer cone. Wind pollinated.
• Myrica californica (California wax myrtle) -- Evergreen leaves have black dots. No catkins at this date.
• Myrica gale (sweet gale) -- Deciduous leaves have yellow dots. This is an important nitrogen fixing species.
• Betula papyrifera (white birch, canoe birch) -- Male and female flowers in separate catkins 2 to 4 cm long. Flower at same time before leaves emerge.

Alpine Garden

• Salix gracilistyla 'Melanostachys' (black pussy willow) -- Deciduous. Black catkins with red anthers in early spring before leaves. Dioecious. Insect pollinated.
• Nothofagus antarctica (Antarctic beech) -- no catkins at this date.
• Garrya elliptica (or similar) (silk tassel bush) -- long gray-green male catkins

Discussion on convergent evolution: the process whereby organisms that are not closely related, evolve similar traits as a result of having to adapt to similar environments. A good example of this is the catkin and the cone.