Container Gardening

If you are growing plants in containers there are a few things that you will need to take care of if the plants are to survive. Obviously you will need to start with the best and healthiest seeds or plants.
Choose good quality container mix too, such as?proprietary hanging basket mixes that? have been developed to provide the best growing conditions in these unique situations.

For aesthetics you will probably want to get the container looking as ‘full’ as possible so you will be cramming the plants in.? It is best to put the larger plants in the middle of the basket with smaller plants trailing out to the edges and the sides.

The larger the container, ?the better chance your plants will have to survive and they will also require less maintenance.? As with all plants no matter where they are growing water will be essential and with containers?more care is required than normal.

You can place a water trough between the plants and the liner to maintain a place to hold water that would normally seep through the liner. In warmer weather you will need to water the plants more often and this is best handled with a long watering wand, which makes reaching the plants easier.

Occasionally, where you have containers that are easily moved, you can soak the entire basket in a tub of water.? If the container has been quite dry you will need to soak it until the bubbles stop rising.

Always use quality liquid plant feed to ensure your plants are getting all the nutrients that they require. To prevent the plants from drying out in the sun and the wind aim to get maximum foliage coverage.

If you take the time to give your container plants the additional care that they need, you will be rewarded with a pleasant addition to any living area.

Japanese gardens are a living work of art?in which the plants and trees are ever changing with the seasons. As they grow and mature they are constantly sculpted to maintain and enhance the overall experience. Hence a Japanese garden is never the same and never really finished.

While the underlying structure is determined by the architecture, that is the framework of enduring elements, such as buildings, veranda’s and terraces, paths, tsukiyama (artificial hills) and stone compositions, over time it is only as good as the careful maintenance that it receives by those skilled in the art of training and pruning.

As the Japanese garden evolved over 15 centuries it is difficult to label or “put in a box”. As there are many garden types in Japan, to typify it as (just) “a Japanese garden” is not enough. It is not workable nor does it do justice. The differences between e.g. a Tea-garden and Karesansui-garden are just too big to talk about in general terms when working to design one.

It is important to know what type of Japanese garden you are “planning” so you can name it and focus on the relevant characteristics. There are of course commonalities between all Japanese garden types but these are often not the subject of discussion. It is required to typify it one degree more precise to be able to successfully realize a Japanese garden, either of a single type or a composition of divers elements.

Since the Muromachi Period, the Japanese tea ceremony has flourished. Sen no Rikyu established the style of tea house, and they usually had a roji or ?dewy path? leading to them.

In the beginning of Edo Period, when shoguns and daimyos built their castles and mansions, they created many excursion-style gardens, in which people could walk around the garden. One of the famous garden makers in this period is Enshu Kobori. The excursion-style gardens have a pond or an artificial hill at the centre, which are often seen in daimyo?s mansions, are called Chisen excursion-style gardens.

Japanese gardens might fall into one of these styles: Strolling gardens, for viewing from a path and sitting gardens, for contemplating from one place, such as the tiny tsuboniwa found in machiya (traditional wooden townhouses).

Typical Japanese gardens contain several of these elements, real or symbolic:

• Water
• An island
• A bridge to the island
• A lantern, typically of stone
• A teahouse or pavilion

Photo: James Phillips, Japanese Garden – Portland, Oregon.