One of the most extensive Japanese gardens in all of Canada is at the Montreal Botanical Gardens in Quebec. Opening on June 28, 1988 the 2.5 hectare property features a variety of Japanese gardening styles. Designed by Ken Nakajima, the traditional Tsukiyama garden greets visitors with pathways leading past azaleas, peonies, a mini forest of crab-apple trees, carp filled ponds, stone lanterns and cascading waterfalls.

The pathway leads to a Pavilion housing a tea room and, along one of the outside walls, the Bonsai Garden. Thirty tiny trees, including Japanese maples, the Maidenhair tree, azaleas and junipers are on display, some almost 350 years old. On the other side of the Pavilion, a Zen garden, done in the abstract Karesansui style, features eleven stones of blue-green peridotite carefully placed in a sea of white sand

Moving west, we travel to Lethbridge, Alberta to the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden. The gardens were founded in 1967, the year of the Canadian centennial. The name Nikka is actually taken from the Japanese words for Japan (Nihon) and Canada (Kanada). Designed by Tadashi Kubo, of the Prefecture University in Osaka, the garden uses Japanese methods and local materials to create a miniature model of the Alberta landscape. Kubo took time to travel throughout the province before putting his design to paper.

Rocks, some of them weighing more than a ton, were taken from the Canadian Rockies to line the tranquil ponds and create tumbling waterfalls. One boulder that had the shape of a turtle was placed in the middle of the largest pond. This mini island is a Japanese symbol for long life. Other rocks were used in creating a Karesansui dry garden next to the teahouse.

The cypress wood teahouse, bridges, gates and azumaya shelter were all crafted in Kyoto and shipped to Canada. Hand carved stone lanterns and a bell tower equipped with a bronze Friendship bell were also crafted in Kyoto and imported. Open from May until October, the Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens are especially lovely in early spring when the azaleas blossom and again in autumn when the maples turn into fiery visions of red and gold.

This post was written by Moni

Monica Wachman of Butterfly Mountain Press (Aka: Moni) is a wanderer, an explorer, an artist and a writer. Since her first madcap journey across the United States at the age of 16 Moni has never been able to stay in one place very long. There was always another town or mountain or lake to explore. These explorations were sometimes just visits of days, weeks or perhaps a month or two. Other times she started life over in another city, another state and most recently, in another country. Currently this transplanted Californian is living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Orchids have moved to rapidly become beloved amongst houseplants due to their gorgeous blooms and their array in kind, colors and sizes. Like any other type of plant, orchids call for the proper growing environment in order to flourish.

Giving your orchid the precise quantity of water is only the initial part of offering your orchid the correct growing environment. While the amount of water essential for your orchid can differ amid dissimilar species of orchids, it is imperative to do research for your particular plant. However, it is useful to comprehend orchids in general and from where the come.

You’ll find orchid plants typically in tropical areas around the earth. Vast amounts of rain fall in the areas where many orchid plants are found. Also, it can be incredibly humid in their local habitats. As a matter of fact, the ultimate humidity level for most orchids is right around 80%. Taking into consideration that a room that is kept at 80% humidity would be exceedingly uncomfortable and unbearable for most human beings, one needs to find other strategies to maintain orchid’s health and happiness. One trouble-free way to humidify your orchids is to give them with a stable supply of rain water. Orchid owners should buy a orchid pot, deep saucer and a few bags of pebbles. You should dispense the stones into the saucer. Now, position your orchid pot on top of the pebbles that are within the saucer and then you can water the pebbles. You should make certain that the water doesn’t ever touch the actual orchid pot. By doing all of this you’re able to set up a synthetic high-humidity environment around the orchids.

It seems that one of the prevalent missteps people make when taking care of their orchids is over-watering. By and large it is understood by a few owners that when the potting soil looks dry as a bone the plant requires to be watered. This is so not true, especially when dealing with orchids. Even though the potting bark may seem to appear dry, the bark itself holds humidity. The general rule of thumb for watering your orchid plant once every seven days or every other week, scarcely. When one is growing an orchid plant in their home, be sure to let the potting bark dry out entirely prior to watering them. Some species of orchids have been known to grow on the trunks and branches of trees. In their local habitats it’s completely ordinary for their roots to dry out before being given any water again. You’ll find that orchid plants need to be fertilized but in moderation as well. You can purchase orchid fertilizer at most garden shops within your local area. By creating a good schedule for fertilizing and watering your orchid is an outstanding way to warranty that you’ll be able to take pleasure in these exotic flowers for an extensive time.

You will find that orchids will prosper in your home atmosphere if they are given the right care together with the right total of potting bark, just the right quantity of water, and the correct amount of sunlight and if they are fertilized sporadically. Even though they are quite stunning, they can also be unpredictable. However, by understanding how to care for them appropriately, orchids are not that complex and you can grow these exotic and striking plants.

This post was written by Trevor Waack

Travis Waack is a gardening enthusiast and flower lover. His website offers simple, yet effective easy to follow directions for raising beautiful, healthy orchids. Travis' Free E-course "Orchid Tips & Secrets" is packed with tips and techniques for the orchid enthusiasts. Subscribe for FREE by visiting us at http://www.orchidinformationsecrets.com

All gardens have problem spots – those areas where it seems that nothing will grow. Often, this tends to be in the shade – either under a large tree or the eves of a house. This week we are featuring an evergreen that will solve the problem of bare, shaded areas and will add eye catching color and interest to your garden – Aucuba japonica ‘Gold Dust.’

Unlike most garden plants that only tolerate shade, Aucubas prefer shade and will thrive in the shadiest of spots, even under trees where no grass grows.

Native to Japan, Aucubas are a small group of evergreen shrubs that belong to the same family as dogwoods, but look nothing like them. ‘Gold Dust’ is one of the most popular of the Aucubas, named for its speckled leaves that look as if someone had sprinkled gold dust on them. These handsome leaves are the reason why most folks add this shrub to their garden. ‘Gold Dust’ will flower in late March and produce red berries in October, but neither is very noticeable next to the striking foliage.

Planting and Care
‘Gold Dust’ will mature as a rounded shrub six feet to eight feet tall by six feet wide. It can be kept severely pruned to a compact three foot by three foot shrub. ‘Gold Dust’ grows almost one foot per year. It is ideal as a dense screen; also in difficult spots in foundation plantings. Very pollution tolerant; excellent for urban sites.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Alan_Summers

This post was written by Alan

Alan Summers, president of Carroll Gardens, Inc., has over 30 years experience in gardening and landscape design. He has made Carroll Gardens one of America’s preeminent nurseries, having introduced more than 20 new perennials and woody shrubs over the years and reintroduced numerous “lost” cultivars back to American gardeners.

By their very nature Zen gardens encourage you to use your imagination.  Using carefully placed rocks and stones and open spaces filled with sand or gravel these gardens tend to capture the eye and the mind and hold both. Soon one can see the waves undulating in the sand ponds as they push around the rock islands that break their flow. The carefully placed rocks along the shoreline become craggy mountain ranges. Perhaps a bit of moss adds a hint of color and the impression of a hidden valley between those ranges. As you sit deep in thought and relaxed, you realize the garden has indeed captured you.

Zen gardens are done in the Japanese dry gardening style of Karesansui. It was developed in the 13th century by a Japanese priest in Kyoto, the site of one of the world’s most famous Zen meditative gardens. Created over 500 years ago, the Zen garden at the Ryoan-ji Temple is one of the most visited sites in Japan. It contains no plants at all within its 30 metre by 10 metre design. Fifteen rocks are cleverly arranged on a bed of gravel and sand in such a fashion that one can only see fourteen of them at one time.

Kyoto is also home to Nanzenji, a Zen temple located at the foot of the city’s eastern hills. It is the head temple for the Rinzai sect’s Nanzenji Zen Buddhism school of thought and is famous not only for its contemplative Zen garden but for its artwork and rich history that dates back to 1291. The Seiryo-den is the main building, where hand painted sliding doors, called fusuma, open to the rock garden. The entrance gate, called the Sanmon, was completed in 1628.

Zen gardens have found their way to other parts of the world as well. In Portland, Oregon, sister city to Sapporo, Japan, the popular Japanese Gardens have included a Zen garden in their design. The creator, Professor Takuma Tono based his layout on a 2,000 year old legend that tells of Buddha saving a starving tiger and cubs that were trapped in a ravine. The expanse of combed gravel is accented by four smaller stones and one upright, all covered with a patina of moss after standing for fifty years.

Zen gardens may one day invite contemplation on the moon, or beyond. The National Space Society held a design contest for lunar space station layouts. Artist Ayako Ono from Japan entered her “Lunar Zen Garden” painting. It features a lunar layout with several domed buildings, solar panels and all else you would expect to find in a space colony. What was not expected was the groomed circles around the domed buildings and strategically placed rocks that seem to have no other function than to capture the imagination. Of course on the moon, limiting your gardening materials to rocks, sands and gravels isn’t much of an issue.

Why not try to sculpt your own Japanese Garden or create a Japanese Water Garden.

Ryoan-ji Temple, The Temple of the Peaceful Dragon.

This post was written by Moni

Monica Wachman of Butterfly Mountain Press (Aka: Moni) is a wanderer, an explorer, an artist and a writer. Since her first madcap journey across the United States at the age of 16 Moni has never been able to stay in one place very long. There was always another town or mountain or lake to explore. These explorations were sometimes just visits of days, weeks or perhaps a month or two. Other times she started life over in another city, another state and most recently, in another country. Currently this transplanted Californian is living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

Originally built as part of the 1894 California Midwinter International Exposition, the exhibit was transformed into an intricately designed garden by a Japanese immigrant, Makoto Hagiwara.  He imported native plants, including one thousand flowering cherry trees, birds and goldfish from his native Japan and personally oversaw the creation of this San Francisco treasure.

Much of the original garden remains, including the intricately carved Hagiwara Gate which once framed the entrance to Makoto Hagiwara’s in park residence.  The house was demolished in 1942 and has been replaced with the Sunken Garden designed to create the illusion of a landscape as seen from far away.  A brilliant red Buddhist Pagoda sits where a Shinto Shrine was also dismantled that same year.

The Tea House pavilion is also part of the 1894 original garden design.  It is said that Mr. Hagiwara is credited to have served the first fortune cookies in America at this tea garden sometime in the 1890s or early 1900s. The cookies were made by Benkyodo, a San Francisco bakery.

The tea house is also the site of one of the garden’s oldest trees, a rare Japanese umbrella pine. A smaller version grows close to the great bronze Buddha (circa 1790) in the Circle Lawn.  Sharing space with the umbrella pine in the Circle Lawn is an ancient black pine.  The roughened bark, thick trunk and relatively low height is reminiscent of a roughly manicured bonsai, but this tree has been naturally shaped by time and the elements.

The meandering pathways lead you past another tribute to Mr. Hagiwara, the landscaped Mt. Fuji hedge, dedicated in 1979.   Along side sits the elegantly trimmed Dragon Hedge, its curved back fronting a curtain of bamboo.  The Drum or Moon Bridge, another remnant of the original garden, is not only scenic, but rather a challenge to cross. Thin steps have been added to make the climb easier (think ladder) but though the view and the bragging rights are excellent, some folks do decide to go around.

More than anything this is a garden of peace. There can be no greater symbol of this than the Lantern of Peace donated by the Japanese government in 1953.  Given as a gesture of reconciliation after the horrors of World War II, it is the ultimate olive branch extended by a people who value serenity above all else.

This post was written by Moni

Monica Wachman of Butterfly Mountain Press (Aka: Moni) is a wanderer, an explorer, an artist and a writer. Since her first madcap journey across the United States at the age of 16 Moni has never been able to stay in one place very long. There was always another town or mountain or lake to explore. These explorations were sometimes just visits of days, weeks or perhaps a month or two. Other times she started life over in another city, another state and most recently, in another country. Currently this transplanted Californian is living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

If you want to grow these miniature trees yourself, you can purchase bonsai seedlings or you can also buy wood cuttings that can be transformed into a bonsai tree. Other tips for growing this type of tree include making sure it gets sufficient sunlight and humidity (You can place the bonsai pot in shallow water to ensure it gets adequate humidity), and only use potted bonsai soil.

To ensure success in growing bonsai trees, pruning these trees correctly is very important. First and foremost, make sure you are pruning them in the right season. You can do research or contact someone who specializes in bonsai to find out the appropriate season that you can prune your particular tree in. For deciduous types of bonsai trees, such as maples, prune by trimming unnecessary growth with scissor tips. When trimming outward, trim back the shoots but only to the point that is just after the following series of leaves. For the conifer types, such as Spruce, prune them by gently twisting the growth using your thumb and forefinger, while supporting the branch with your other hand.

When pruning, make sure you balance everything out, both above and below ground. This means if you do too much pruning of the leaves and branches, but you do too little or no cutting back of the roots (or vice versa), you will later on either have too much or too little growth as the bonsai tries to balance itself out. The roots should be no more than 30% ahead of the foliage.

Branches, such as those growing from the underside of the main branches, growing back sharply toward the trunk, or those that are crossing one another, should be removed. Extra branches growing on any weak area of the trunk should be left alone to allow more growth, so the particular area(s) can become sturdier. Another great tip is to cut approximately 60 to 80% of the larger-sized leaves in mid-summer, so all the leaves stay smaller throughout the year and will thus give off more noticeable and radiant colors in autumn (This is also known as leaf pruning, which can be used on both conifer and deciduous trees).

Also, remember to leave your bonsai with enough time to recover in between prunings and focus the majority of your attention on the trunk, which will give the illusion of a mature size and age.

This post was written by Paul Masterson

Paul is a collector of Bonsai, tropical plants and owner of Bonsai.ie.

In China where the other great art of Penjing, the Chinese name for Bonsai, originated they have many styles reflecting the landscape in the many regions that these styles are commonly seen in nature. The five main regions of China have within these regions a number of forms.

My point is that while we grow Bonsai or Penjing outside Japan or China, we have to work with our own native trees and try and reflect the styles that we see around us in our own countries landscapes. This means that we should be taking the opportunity to create unique styles of American, Australian, African or Scottish Bonsai and not just Japanese or Chinese styles.

John Yoshio Naka, a great American Japanese teacher and authority on styles and size definitions, identified both the major styles and heights, which help us, determinate the style descriptions.  John is no longer with us and like many others having studied with him over the years, I was taught these styles by John and I have put his descriptions in the following chart. This is a good start to the understanding of the names in both Japanese and in English. Chinese styles have their own terminology. I teach in many different countries where English is not the prime language so the terminology is useful as everyone will understand Chokkan rather than Formal Upright. I prefer using the English terminology in English speaking countries though.

• · common terms

Bonsai heights and names

Many years ago John taught us that we need to have a structure of size descriptions as well. Bonsai come in a variety of heights ranging from one inch up to six feet. Essentially the larger Bonsai are known as Garden Bonsai or Yard Trees while most Bonsai are of a reasonable size around a maximum of 40 inches. In some instances trees that require two persons to carry it are simply big trees in pots and not accepted (in some quarters) as true Bonsai. Nothing is fixed as to what is a Bonsai however and this size chart is a guideline.

Sizes are measured from soil level to the Apex of the Bonsai. The right size of pot to enhance the tree acts as a frame to a picture. It should be seen but not seen. A pot should not take over from the tree but have a quiet elegance in its own right. A pot should not be a distraction.

One inch = 2.5 Centimetres

Article by Craig Coussins©

This post was written by Craig Coussins

Craig Coussins has been a Bonsai grower for nearly 40 years and a teacher of Bonsai for nearly 35 years. He is not a commercial grower. Although Bonsai has always been a hobby it has also been a very important part of his life. Read more in the 'Guest Writers' page.

The Rikugien Garden in Tokyo was constructed during the Edo period (1603 to 1868). This was the time when the Tokugawa shogunate was in power and when the mistrust of outsiders was at its peak. The first shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu saw the value of foreign trade and did indeed encourage it. But he did have a fear of foreigners, their customs and religions and set about turning Japan into a closed society.

The fifth shogun of the Edo period, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi gave permission for the construction of Rikugien Garden. Built by Yanagisaw Yoshiyasu, a daimyo, or territorial lord under the shogun, construction began in 1695. The gardens were designed to emulate the original six forms of waka poetry.

The gardens opened in 1702 and originally featured 88 landscaped scenes taken from actual poems. After Yoshiyasu died in 1714, the garden was largely forgotten until 1877 when it was purchased by the founder of the Mitsubishi Corporation, Iwasaki Yataro, who revived 18 of those scenes. Today it is the property of the city of Tokyo, Japan.

Visitors pass through the Naitei-Daimon gate and are greeted by a large cherry tree, which in season sports a cascade of pink blossoms. The pathway takes you to the Deshio-no-minato, a spot on the edge of the pond that gives you an overview of the garden including the islands in the middle. The two hills on the main island represent Izanagi and Izanami, man and woman, from the myth of Japan’s ancient origins. Another smaller island, made of strategically placed stones, is called Horaijima. It represents the home of the immortals.

As you follow the pathway around the pond, artfully placed azaleas and tiny bonsai trees seem to appear out of hidden pockets. Nearing the Tsutsuji-no-chaya teahouse, you find yourself standing in a grove of maples. In fall they will be clothed in bright reds, yellows and oranges. Take a walk through the Sasakani-no-michi, a pathway lined with greenery that is so narrow it is named for a spider’s web. Cross the Togetsukyo stone bridge, built in remembrance of a romantic poem about the moon, cranes and a rice paddy.

End your visit with a traditional tea ceremony at Takimi-no-chaya, another teahouse that sits next to a stream with cascading waterfalls, bonsai trees and stone lanterns. From here you can watch the Sleeping Dragon Rock and listen to the gentle flow of the waters.

This post was written by Moni

Monica Wachman of Butterfly Mountain Press (Aka: Moni) is a wanderer, an explorer, an artist and a writer. Since her first madcap journey across the United States at the age of 16 Moni has never been able to stay in one place very long. There was always another town or mountain or lake to explore. These explorations were sometimes just visits of days, weeks or perhaps a month or two. Other times she started life over in another city, another state and most recently, in another country. Currently this transplanted Californian is living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

_The Japanese people have long cherished the natural world and have become experts in creating miniature versions of mountain ranges, stream laced valleys and even tiny bridges and buildings that in the minds eye of meditation could be visited whenever the soul sought solace from the grind of daily life.

_Entering a Japanese garden is like entering your own miniature world.  The imagination takes flight and suddenly you are no longer on the busy streets of a concrete and steel forest of high rises, but rather in a protective natural enclave that nurtures, calms and pleases.

_One classic style of Japanese gardens, the Karesausui, creates this illusion of peaceful solitude using gravel, stones and rocks in their natural state with just a minimum of plant life in the form of mosses and small shrubs.  Sections of sands are raked in patterns that mimic ripples on water and carefully selected stones sit amongst these ripples, signifying islands.  Moss covered rocks surround the expanse of sand, creating the shoreline and adding subtle colour to the display. Stones can also be artfully arranged to create dry waterfalls. Selected stones are sometimes names after various Chinese or Japanese mountains. Water, plant life and mountains are all represented in a true abstract form attributed to Zen Buddhism.  In many ways, the gardens are like paintings, created to be best appreciated from one clearly defined, seated vantage point.

_The first of these waterless gardens was created in Japan at the Kencho-ji Temple in Kamakura, founded in 1253, which became the center of Zen Buddhism. Located just behind the Hojo, or head priests living quarters, Shin-ji Ike garden was designed by Muso Soseki, a noted scholar, poet and Zen teacher.  Shaped like the Japanese character for the mind, this century’s old waterless creation is open for public viewing and is a favoured spot for quiet contemplation.

_Karesausui stone gardens can be found throughout the world.  One of the most recent creations is at Tacoma Community College in Washington State, USA.  The Babe and Hermann Lehrer Japanese Friendship Garden will celebrate its second anniversary in November 2009 and is the first public Japanese Garden to open in Tacoma in 100 years.

_In true Karesausui style, Mount Rainer is represented by a sculptured mound of boulders with a cascade of stones representing a waterfall tumbling down to an open gravelled river space.  Flat stones are layered to represent a beach.  Bridges of polished salt and pepper granite connect the free form rock islands and stepping stones cross the river leading to the back of the garden and steps that take visitors to the top of the mountain.  A twelve foot pagoda graces the highest point of the garden and stone lanterns imported from China dot the landscape. Irish moss shares space with Japanese maple and native Northwest plants such as salal and rhododendrons.

_Though the Japanese stone garden in Tacoma is not that large, and as of yet not well known, it is a true representation of the Karesausui garden style, and in that light offers visitors a quiet, imaginative natural space in which to contemplate…life.

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This post was written by Moni

Monica Wachman of Butterfly Mountain Press (Aka: Moni) is a wanderer, an explorer, an artist and a writer. Since her first madcap journey across the United States at the age of 16 Moni has never been able to stay in one place very long. There was always another town or mountain or lake to explore. These explorations were sometimes just visits of days, weeks or perhaps a month or two. Other times she started life over in another city, another state and most recently, in another country. Currently this transplanted Californian is living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.

The islands largest town, Hilo, is home to the Lili’uokalani Gardens, the largest ornamental Japanese park outside of Japan.  Named for Hawaii’s last Queen and dedicated to Japanese immigrants who worked on the sugar plantations, this thirty acre sea level park is well loved by the locals and admired by visitors who are lucky enough to find it.

This is very much a people’s park. The park is open daily and there are no gates so entry can be made from any direction. The gardens frame the shores of Hilo Bay, facing the east and are perfect for watching the sun rise over the Pacific Ocean.  Locals and visitors from the hotels on Banyan drive often head to the park in the early hours to walk or jog as the sun comes up.  Just before dawn, local fishermen will toss their nets in the ocean on the bay side of the park, or even in some of the native Hawaiian style fish ponds that have been incorporated into the garden’s design.

As the day progresses, families come out to picnic on the wide expanse of lawns.  Fathers and sons play catch, tourists sunbathe and bamboo fishing poles cast their lines into those same gently curved fish ponds.  Some of these ponds are open to the open ocean so at high tide paths leading to them tend to be water soaked.  Not a problem, just wear some “rubbah slippahs” or better yet, go barefoot.

A Japanese rock garden in the dry Karesausui style is a recent addition. Half moon bridges, small pagodas, gazebos and Tori gates greet visitors as they follow the meandering pathways. Stone lanterns and bonsai trees share space with native palms, banyan and banana trees along with fragrant hibiscus and ginger blossoms.  Ocean birds visit the ponds for a quick snack, mongoose play hide and seed among the rocks and trees and the mynah birds are very vocal in letting you know they are out and about.

The Big Island of Hawaii shares Sister Island Status with Oshima, Japan and the reverence for that culture is evident. Tea ceremonies are held in a traditional Japanese Tea House named Shoroan.  It was donated by the Fifteenth Grand Tea Master of Urasenke and may be booked for special events.  The gardens also include a sumo platform and a shelter for Okinawan style canoes. Special Okinawan race days are held at the ocean side of the park fronting Hilo Bay.

Hilo is very much a sleepy island town that rolls up its sidewalks in the early evening. Most people that visit Hilo drop by on the way to or from the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. A few stay a night or two and discover the warmth of this charming area.  The very lucky ones put on their slippahs and find their way to the Queen Lili’uokalani Gardens at sunrise. Perhaps they might even go local and cast their own fishing line in a garden pond as they watch the waters of Hilo Bay shimmer with the colors of morning.

This post was written by Moni

Monica Wachman of Butterfly Mountain Press (Aka: Moni) is a wanderer, an explorer, an artist and a writer. Since her first madcap journey across the United States at the age of 16 Moni has never been able to stay in one place very long. There was always another town or mountain or lake to explore. These explorations were sometimes just visits of days, weeks or perhaps a month or two. Other times she started life over in another city, another state and most recently, in another country. Currently this transplanted Californian is living on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.