Herself’s Houston Garden

This first visit was in winter, our next will be in the summer and I’ll take more garden photos and visit lots of botanical gardens.

Every plant is bonsai’d in Tokyo, not just small potted plants, but 30′ trees and everything in between. No plant is safe.

We made our first visit to Tokyo in the winter, our next visit will be in warmer weather and I’ll be visiting botanical gardens then. But for now here are a few photos from formal gardens about the city.

We were surprised to see so little bamboo. It is usually in patches about 20′x20′ and along the highway but rarely a part of the garden.

Every plant in the garden is bonsai’d. Here we tell people not to mushroom their shrubs or amputate their crapes, yet every plant in every Tokyo garden we saw was heavily pruned.

Along pathways tree branches are forced to grow across and down and supported with ropes and boards.

No plant is left untouched.

It was winter on our first visit to Tokyo, so we’re saving the botanical garden visits until our summer visit.

In the older residential areas of Tokyo the homes are 1-3 stories tall and the sidewalks in front of the homes have pocket gardens in front of the homes, often less than a foot deep. Clusters of potted plants are common as are tiny vegetable plots.

1. Bonsai literally translates to tree in a pot.

2. There are 4000 year old paintings in Egypt showing bonsai.  2000 years ago bonsai shows up in Chinese paintings, 1400 years ago it shows up in Japanese art.  100 years ago bonsai makes a small appearance in London, then after WWII it shows up in the US.

3. In China bonsai often depict entire scenes, where as in Japanese bonsai it is typically one plant.

4. Shallow pots are typically used both for appearance, so you can see some of the roots and because it is easier to maintain soil moisture evenly.

5. There are many, many styles of bonsai including: Chokkan ( straight trunk tree); Fukinagashi ( wind swept); Netsurianai ( roots grow together); Ishkizuki ( with rocks ); Kengai ( cascade);  Yoseue ( group planting ); Bunkingi ( stressed ).

6. Some good choices to try to use for bonsai include: figs, crapes, junipers, azaleas.  Pines are more difficult, but if you want a pine find a short needled pine. Also consider trying to start with a cutting from a local tree or dig up a sapling.

7. Bonsais must be pruned and shaped frequently. Find some short edged tools to make it easier to get in tight spaces with out damaging other branches.

8. Soil should be well drained and course.  Your bonsai soil should get dry enough to need watering daily.

9. Spidermites can be a problem, Merit is the recommended systemic insecticide.

10. We have a very active Bonsai Society in Houston that meets at the Houston Garden Center the first Wed of each month at 7 pm.