What does a Japanese garden look like?  That's a good question, having just asked it myself.  Sorry, but my garden isn't a Japanese garden.  In fact, it is much closer to an English garden, right down to the poor condition of the grass lawn.  When we began gardening, it happened right after we got a garden, we decided to bring a little Britain to our part of Japan.  So we have roses, lavender, buddleia, lilac, many of the typical cottage garden flowers Alan Titchmarsh tells us he remembers when he was a little boy.

Having said that, one finds it difficult to turn down the offer of a plant or tree, especially when it would fill one of the multitude of gaps.  This means that I have acquired a number of things that I wouldn't have gone out and bought.  Don't get me wrong, I have come to appreciate that influence in the garden.  Mainly because it has opened my eyes to a much wider range  of plants. 

The other reason it isn't a truly English garden is because you can grow so many plants which would curl up and die back in sunny England.  Let me show you!

This is my passion flower, hardy on a west facing wall.  After the flowers, which flower from June to September, come the passion fruits.  At this point I must stress that the garden is going through a considerable transformation, albeit on a slow schedule.  More scale size plants such as conifers, junipers, thymes, etc... are being bought and cuttings taken. 

High time to add some more photos of the garden.  This is a fragrant lime tree.  It is evergreen and flowers during october.  The flowers give off a glorious sweet fragrance wich one can smell anywhere in the garden.  This is one of the best reasons for having visitors over in October.  That and the fact that the mossys are nearly all gone.

One of the things I want to do with the garden  in the next few months is to make it less labour-intensive.  I want to enjoy the garden more rather than have to cut-back, prune and weed.  Yes, I know roses will always need a good pruning, but with the application of gravel and groundcover I hope to keep weeking to a bare minimum.  The over-agressive buddleia is for the chop, not just because it is a brute, but because I gives me the most horrendous hayfever no matter what season it flowers.

I intend to lay cardboard as a weed suppressant, then cover it with gravel so that under trees and shrubs there is less chance for weeds to get established.  Photos will appear as it happens.

Conifers and small scale plants.

October 2005.

  This month has seen the purchase of about 20 or so scale plants for the railway.  It is the season for conifers here in Japan as there are less flowers in the garden centres so they fill the spaces with evergreens.  I have been able to buy some conifers for around £1.50 each.  In the coming weeks you will be able to see new photos with the recently planted scale trees and plants in the background.  I will provide details of what I have bought and planted.  I had a good look around the net for planting advice.  'Garden Railways' the US magazine has a good landscaping section on their website.  Other sources I used are the Garden Rail articles and a great book on Evergreens which gives the all important yearly growth and final size dimensions.

The back of my house is in constant shade as it points to the north.  On a recent excursion to check the boiler kerosene level (Yes, that's what we usually use for water heating in Japan) I discovered a mass of moss covering much of the ground.  I realised how the moss looked like it would fit a 16mm scale so I scraped some up with a trowel and transplanted it next to a bit of track.  You don't notice these things unless you are thinking about what one can use on the garden line.  A few well placed rocks with this moss squashed in around them gives a very pleasing effect.  I will just have to see how it copes with a bit of sunlight.

Sorry for the play on words but I have to put in a paragraph on thyme.  This delightful herb has found many places along the line to establish itself.  The garden has always had a good sprinkling of herbs.  At present we have, rosemary, sage, parsley, lavender, mint, chamomile, oregano, basil and thyme. 

Choosing plants for line-side duty I am always aware that anything other than very small leaved plants look out of scale alongside a 1:19th scale figure.  Thyme comes in many varieties.  The trailing and creeping varieties give a bramble-like appearance while others can be used to create small bushes or trees.

I currently have two banks of thyme that have established themselves to the extent that they give a truly overgrown impression.  To date I must have about ten different kinds of thyme.  Some are variegated, some with shiny leaves and others with a rough almost fury texture.

I'll get busy with the camera and put some pics on the site to give you an idea of why I like thyme so much.

This section will focus on plants and small trees that are close to the track (lineside).  Thus, we need to use small leafed plants that look right along side a 1/19th scale figure or train.  I expect you might think I'm very lucky being in Japan, the land of the bonsai tree.  Well, yes there are many sources I can go to for the perfectly sized tree, thought they are always expensive.  The alternative is to buy young trees and train them oneself.

I can think of five or six good garden centres near to Takasaki that I sometimes visit.  Occasionally I bring back something that will fit the lineside plantings.  I now have around seven kinds of thyme, which are very happy and continue to spread and spread.  The small trees are fairly east to get hold of.  I now have a blue/green forest area made up of miniature juniper trees.  They brighten the track that is often in the shade of the shed.