Tag - gardens-for-all

 
 

GARDENS FOR ALL

Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Dec 26, 2002
Turning over new leaves
Time seems to fly by. With 2003 just around the corner, major housework operations are in order to enter the year with everything sparkling. Garden companies, too, will be busy cleaning up gardens. Pruning pine trees and cutting hedges, known as hagari (lit. "leaf-cutting") is an important part of the outside work. However, although Japanese gardeners are masters of detail, no matter how beautifully they tend to the trees and plants, if the garden is not perfectly clean when they leave then all their work is as nought! In this regard, though modern blowers are very useful, hand tools such as te-boki (bamboo brushes) are invaluable for applying the final touches.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Nov 28, 2002
Autumn chilly spell yields a spectacular cast of colors
This year, the autumn color has been truly magnificent in the Kansai region, primarily thanks to the Japanese maple. Every year, these trees are almost guaranteed to deliver wonderful yellow-and-red fall foliage, but this year the sudden drop in temperature in the first few days of November pushed into high gear the mechanisms that control the color pigments in deciduous trees.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Oct 24, 2002
Aliens add to autumn show
Autumn in Japan is a colorful season, and not only because of the famed koyo foliage of its trees. In gardens, fields and roadsides, too, flowers burst forth as if to celebrate the return of sensible weather after the long, sweaty rigors of summer. However, some of the best-known blooms of this fall season aren't native plants at all, but alien species from the Americas and China.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Oct 10, 2002
Nurturing nature in an urban sprawl
At a mere 374 meters high, Arima-Fuji in Hyogo Prefecture is hardly on a par with the Kanto peak whose name it shares, but its conical shape does bear a passing resemblance. Though it's almost all clothed with pleasent woodland, from the bare rocky areas near the summit there are good views of the surrounding countryside and the city of Sanda.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Sep 26, 2002
Trees that tower over the past and present
An visitor to Kyoto's world-famous gardens and temples could not fail to be awed by the stands and avenues of towering Kitayama sugi (Japanese red cedar, or peacock pine; Cryptomeria japonica).
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Sep 12, 2002
In praise of grass, glorious grass
Summer's heat is lingering on, but there are hints in the air that the glorious days of autumn are just around the corner. Fall in Japan is exciting for its famed tree foliage, but the weather is also perfect for gardening -- or for visiting parks during your lunch break or on days off.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Aug 22, 2002
Blooms to brighten summer's days -- and nights
Japan's floral symbol of summer, the asagao (morning glory; Ipomoea purpurea) is an interesting climber with beautiful blooms that has been cultivated on these islands for more than 1,000 years since being brought from China during the Nara Period (710-784). Before that, its origins are a matter of some debate, with many believing the family Convolvulaceae (of which it is part) is native to tropical Asia, and others pointing to tropical America instead.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Aug 8, 2002
A wetland wonderland way out west
In Tessei town in western Okayama, there is a wetland called Koi-ga-kubo Shitsugen whose range of rare and interesting flora makes even the difficulty of getting there well worthwhile.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jul 25, 2002
Expense no object at Meiji jewel in Kobe's crown
Though it's neither very large nor very old, Sorakuen Garden in Kobe is one of the best-designed pond-strolling gardens (kaiyushiki-sensui-teien) I know, with many interesting features and plants of exceptionally high quality.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jul 11, 2002
Osaka's peaceful heart
In 1972, two years after the Japan International Exposition in Osaka, redevelopment work began on the site. The result, eight years later, was the 260-hectare Expolands Green Oasis, which has now matured into a wonderful parkland with a wide range of attractions and facilities.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jun 27, 2002
A temple, park and Heian pond in one
Daikakuji Temple in northwest Kyoto started life in the lyrical Heian Period as Saga-in, the Detached Palace of Emperor Saga, who reigned from 809 until he abdicated and went to live there permanently in 823. Then in 876, his daughter Princess Shoshi designated Saga-in to be converted into a Buddhist temple.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Jun 13, 2002
Water, water irises everywhere
For those who live in Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu, tsuyu officially began last week. Although in some years little or no rain falls in this rainy season, I personally always hope the heavens open to give some respite from the relentless heat.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
May 23, 2002
Dallying where daimyo strolled
Next time you find yourself in Okayama Prefecture, down by the beautiful Seto Inland Sea in western Honshu, you could do worse than allow some time to visit Shuraku-en Park, a well-known historical garden in the Sanyo district of Tsuyama.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
May 9, 2002
Prime greenery in the making
Lying between Kyoto and Nara, Uji City straddles the Uji River, a tributary of the Yodogawa. This same river also drains Lake Biwa, Japan's largest freshwater lake, though upstream -- where it passes through Shiga Prefecture -- its name is Etagawa.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Apr 25, 2002
Savor 'Buddha's spirit' kept secret for a century
The Arashiyama area in western Kyoto along the banks of the Katsura River is famous for its cherry blossoms in spring and its glorious autumn foliage. Until this month, a less popular attraction had been the gardens of Hogonin Temple, a sub-temple of Tenryuji Zen Temple -- largely because they had been closed to the general public for 140 years.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Apr 11, 2002
Trip through time at Tokyo's verdant royal hub
The Imperial Palace grounds are, without doubt, Tokyo's green heart. Located inside a 6.4-km ring of walls and moats that were once the inner defensive perimeter of Edo Castle, this verdant oasis now covers 115 hectares in all, with evergreen woodlands overlooking the moats and creating a very special atmosphere at the hub of the teeming metropolis.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Mar 28, 2002
Zen gardens wondrous to behold, and not
I like nothing better than to go and explore gardens and to let my imagination ponder on what's to be seen. Kyoto has plenty of places just waiting to be discovered, and the best way to go and see its gardens and temples is either on foot or by local bus.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Mar 14, 2002
Garden jewels in the Tofukuji Temple crown
Tofukuji Temple is one of Kyoto's most magnificent jewels and is one of the city's 17 UNESCO-designated World Heritage sites.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Feb 28, 2002
Ferns: as mysterious as they are ancient
Ferns are very old plants that long predate the dinosaurs and were already abundant during the Carboniferous Period 350 million years ago, when many species grew in treelike form. Nowadays, they are perfect for bringing a natural feeling to gardens, and complementing trees and shrubs.
Japan Times
ENVIRONMENT / GARDENS FOR ALL
Feb 14, 2002
Take time to savor Ryoanji's splendors
The stone garden at Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto is perhaps the most famous of all Japanese gardens, and in 1994 it was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

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