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Horticultural art of pine trees in Japan

by | Gardening, Japan, Plants

To Barthelemy “Bart” Desilets-Roy teacher and brother in Japan.   When I think of the constitutive role of pine trees in the soul of the Japanese people and their gardens, I think of an anecdote that happened to me in Japan. One sunny day in July I...

Hunting Japanese azaleas

by | Japan, Plants, Travels

These days I love to repeat that I have “one job and one hobby”. The job is based in an English Garden near Fukuoka, in southern Japan; the hobby consists of the parallel investigation into Japanese flora and gardens. Thus, while all my blood-toil-tears-and-sweat is...

The World Bonsai Convention, le olimpiadi del bonsai

by | Japan, Plants, Travels

Anche il mondo dei bonsaismo ha le sue olimpiadi. Queste sono note come “The World Bonsai Convention” e si svolgono con cadenza quadriennale. Nell’ultimo fine settimana di aprile di quest’anno, la manifestazione è tornata per la prima volta in Giappone, e io ho avuto...

Pruning Japanese maples

by | Gardening, Japan, Plants

This story of maples takes the first step in Wales, a land almost totally unaware of the noble strain. (Except for Acer campestre, the only British native, that in those lands shapes – together with other rustic fellows such as the hazel, the spindle, the...

Adam M. Jones, an American bonsai apprentice in Japan

by | Japan, Travels

(GV) Adam, we met when I was visiting the bonsai nurseries at Omiya, the famous bonsai village of Japan. I was surprised to see a non-Japanese person working alongside locals, in such a specialized and old-school environment. Undoubtedly, Japan can be quite...