We celebrated a bit of good news in our household with a spontaneously planned trip to Japan in November. Completely unintended, the trip coincided with the full regalia of fall colors. Particularly notable were the popular Japanese maples of every size and variety with their brilliant reds, yellow, oranges, greens, and rusts. But happy accident, we learned a few things about the art of sculpting full-grown trees - niwaki - and how to protect plants from ice and snow over the winter - yukizuri. Winter is coming Although the fall colors were still in full swing, with crowds of adoring leaf-peepers like me filling the famous gardens and parks, there were already serious preparations for the coming winter. Fancifully pruned trees - the tree-sculpting art of niwaki similar to bonsai - were being trussed with ropes and propped up on long poles . As newcomers the preparations seemed extremely odd to us, as if some hurricane was about to shred the life out of every branch and bush. But,...
A blog account of gardening from a high-rise apartment in a cold climate.