Journal
Field documentation, research, and insights on tree culture, diagnosis, gardens, and urban trees.
Cornerstone article
Japanese Garden Techniques
Among boxwood alternatives, Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) comes closest in leaf, gloss, and response to shearing, and it is a host of neither box blight nor box tree moth. It fails where…
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Japanese Garden Techniques
Among boxwood alternatives, Japanese holly (Ilex crenata) comes closest in leaf, gloss, and response to shearing, and it is a…
Japanese Garden Techniques
Momiage (もみあげ) is the cold-season work on a Japanese garden pine: the gardener pulls off the needles from previous years…
Sacred & Heritage Trees
Kamō no Ōkusu (蒲生の大楠), the great camphor tree of Kamō Hachiman Shrine in Aira, Kagoshima, is the largest tree in…
Tree Diagnosis
The Higashine Great Zelkova (東根の大ケヤキ, Higashine no Ō-keyaki) is a Japanese zelkova (Zelkova serrata, keyaki in Japanese) that stands in…
Japanese Garden Techniques
Niwaki (庭木) are trees grown in the ground as part of a garden; bonsai (盆栽) are trees grown in a…
Tools & Materials
Tobisho (飛庄, tobishō) is a maker of pruning shears, bud snips and trimming shears in Yamagata City, in northern Japan.…
Tree Diagnosis
Trees do not heal wounds the way skin heals. They respond in two separate ways: on the outside they grow…
Trees in Tokyo
How long should a newly planted tree stay staked? US university extension services usually answer six months to one growing…
Tools & Materials
A Japanese pruning saw cuts on the pull stroke because pulling keeps the blade in tension, and a blade in…