Drive By Garden Appreciation

30th December 2012 : As the last caresses of the warm November sun loosened their sensuous touch on the surrounding hills ... No? Ok, just enjoy the garden then. Read More

Happy Christmas - from Arashiyama

27th December 2012 : Happy Christmas  - while we eat sweets and recover from colds, here are some pics from our trip to Japan in November. We spent an afternoon in Arashiyama, Kyoto, taking the Sagano mountain steam train and pottering about.  Lots of bamboo in Arashiyma... Read More

There's Still Time

12th December 2012 : We think we may be the only people on the earth selling not only the awesome woodsman’s Nata but also the incredibly nice Japanese rice paper MT sticky tape. In between such extremities you’ll find our range of pruning stuff, tripod ladders, kitchen knives, woodworking tools, books by Jake, and… Read More

Voulez-vous prunez avec moi, ce soir?

9th December 2012 : Just got my copy of Creer des Topiaires, aka The Art of Creative Pruning, translated and published by Rourge. It's softback, and rather nice, if I'm allowed to say so. Read More

Evening Sun

8th December 2012 : It was sunny today, for a surprise, but it was sunny last month in Nara too. Here's a place known to me only as 'monk's garden', in the late afternoon sun of the Yamato plains. Lots of trachycarpus. Read More

Obsessions: Big Hedges and Landrovers

6th December 2012 : To my list of obsessions (filled mostly by tree and pruning related subjects) I've recently added Landrovers. Not too picky: new ones, old ones, big ones, small ones, Defenders, Series. They'll all do. So imagine the excitement today at Corsham Court. Read More

Roots n Rocks

5th December 2012 : Can't go wrong really. Read More

Yet more from Taimadera (Taimadera pt 3)

4th December 2012 : Last one from Taimdera, the temple complex in Nara we visited last month. Here's a small garden, I think the home of one of the monks.  The pollarded tree is a sarusuberi (Lagerstroemia indica) cut back for the winter   Read More