My friend Endo Masahiro’s Sodateck has developed a combination LED and fluorescent grow light system for Japan. By combining the two light sources, Sodateck offers an optimal spectrum for plants. I like how his product catalog, in print and web, shows indoor gardening in a very contemporary setting: edibles and decorative plants in a chic [...]
Posts Tagged ‘moss’
27 Oct
Preparing plants for New Year’s celebration
Recently I had the pleasure of taking Kobayashi Kenji’s modern bonsai class at Sinajina. In addition to making my own miniature landscape with a black pine, rock and moss, I learned that gardening in October is focused on making plants beautiful for New Year’s celebrations and guests.
The class used eight year old black pine trees. [...]
9 Oct
Omotesando moss
Omotesando is known for its parade of imported brands: Dior, Chanel, Ralph Lauren, etc. It also has an amazing canopy of zelkova trees (called keyaki or 欅 in Japanese). This photo taken on a rainy day earlier this week shows the trees covered in moss. Looking up from the busy sidewalk, you see many shades [...]
15 Sep
Early fall at Sinajina
The exquisite miniaturization at Sinajina (品品) makes their modern bonsais a poetic reflection on season and landscape. Above is an image from last weekend, in which color and pattern capture the start of fall as surely as the first sighting of wool vests in the Tokyo streets.
To update my earlier post, I am also including some [...]
24 Aug
Wildlife in Kamakura
A day trip to Kamakura to visit a Hitachi environmental strategist turned up many delightful wildlife within Tokyo’s commuter shed. Hasedera Temple has an amazing garden on a steep hillside with views of the ocean. Several types of dragonflies were there, including this amazing red one.
Sunning themselves on lotus leaves were turtles.
Outside the temple, I [...]
5 Aug
Aqua Forest
Led by my moss-loving friend Britton Watkins, I visited Aqua Forest, an aquarium store focused more on plants than fish. They have an amazing selection of aquatic plants, and aquariums with wonderful miniature gardens using dozens of plants, stone and wood.
The magic of the underwater gardens is only magnified by the strange underground mall location, [...]
4 Aug
Hanabouzu flower and plant shop
My friend Britton Watkins was visiting Tokyo on business, and shared with me some of his favorite plant and design stores. Above is his photo of a moss ball in Hanabouzu (花坊主) flower and plant shop in Takaban, Meguro (near Gakugei Daigaku).
Like Sinajina, Hanabouzu offers highly refined, small scale plants. They have modern bonsais, moss [...]
29 Jul
Meeting Kobayashi Kenji (小林健二) at Sinajina (品品)
Yesterday I had the amazing fortune to meet Kobayashi Kenji (小林健二) at Sinajina (品品) in Jiyūgaoka, Setagaya-ku. Recognized as a leading Japanese green designer and bonsai innovator, Kobayashi-sensei has a vision for bring an appreciation of nature through caring for plants to a wide audience.
By making plants into attractive small objects, Kobayashi-sensei has succeeded in [...]
8 Jul
Tsukudajima: nature and history
Next to Tsukishima is Tsukudajima, a tiny island that escaped the earthquake, war and high rise redevelopment. While not all of the houses have been preserved, the scale and and small alleys have been. Walking there today, you can see residents still fishing, visit a beautiful old shrine Sumiyoshi Jinja, buy tsukudani (fish boiled in [...]
3 Jul
Green toilet
Nodai’s Environmental Science department designed a small park and green walls around a public toilet just outside of campus. It’s a mix of moss and euphorbia. Apparently, this common North American plant has been recently introduced to Japan. I like the variety of colors. It’s too bad the moss has turned yellow.
Below is a sign [...]
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