New Japanese-style tree for garden

DaftyDuck

VanMan2007 wrote: »

Interesting post, thank you DaftyDuck. The Ulmus looks great in some pics I've looked at. Ideal, but big enough?? 5 feet would be a minimum, really.

http://www.google.com/imgres?sa=X&biw=1920&bih=883&tbm=isch&tbnid=4xJmHsVVZH0lJM:&imgrefurl=http://www.parlonsbonsai.com/forums/index.php/topic/7258-vos-plus-beaux-ormes-de-chine/&docid=kL1_wBuVNcfALM&imgurl=http://www.parlonsbonsai.com/forums/uploads/post-13-1088780591_thumb.jpg&w=400&h=300&ei=9OdmUbuHPIjK0QXmi4DQDw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=410&vpy=153&dur=8750&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=149&ty=221&page=1&tbnh=133&tbnw=182&start=0&ndsp=59&ved=1t:429,r:26,s:0,i:170

This looks exactly what I would want, if it were the right size.

Are you able to use your own Ginko Biloba?

Five feet would be pushing it for mine.. three at a pinch.

As for my Ginkgo biloba... I could climb it, I suppose.. They say it's a vasodilator and antioxidant... you can make tea and stuff... but, I think I'd stick to climbing it...

Leif

VanMan2007 wrote: »

"Was that the racist joke alluded to in the previous post?"
By me??

No, in the Duck's post.

annie123

A large section of my dads garden is Zen/Japanese

His larger trees are; ornamental plum, and a Chinese wisteria tree. These are trained and pruned, to them in style and keeping with the minimal look.

VanMan2007

sobie wrote: »

White fungal spores on an acer would more than likely be Scale Insects. It doesn't normally kill the Acer but it will look unsightly and the leaves will drop off. An insectide such as Bayer Ultimate Bug Killer will kill scale insect, and is systemic so will keep working for upto 6 weeks after spraying.

Yes, it was scale insects. The insecticide I used didn't seem to work. It seems dead, but may just be dormant? I haven't thrown it out yet anyway.

Before anyone asks, it was Bayer Ultimate Bug Killer. Maybe it was applied to late? will keep watering acer anyway for time being.

VanMan2007

DaftyDuck wrote: »

Five feet would be pushing it for mine.. three at a pinch.

As for my Ginkgo biloba... I could climb it, I suppose.. They say it's a vasodilator and antioxidant... you can make tea and stuff... but, I think I'd stick to climbing it...

Sly Stallone uses it to aid his mental acuity - true! His is called Ginko Balboa!

VanMan2007

annie123 wrote: »

A large section of my dads garden is Zen/Japanese

His larger trees are; ornamental plum, and a Chinese wisteria tree. These are trained and pruned, to them in style and keeping with the minimal look.

That sounds interesting, Annie123, thank you. Any advice from your dad most welcome. I'll be ripping all my garden up (just a load of weeds at the moment) and starting from scratch.

Plum sounds ideal, I love plums!

sobie

VanMan2007 wrote: »

Yes, it was scale insects. The insecticide I used didn't seem to work. It seems dead, but may just be dormant? I haven't thrown it out yet anyway.

Before anyone asks, it was Bayer Ultimate Bug Killer. Maybe it was applied to late? will keep watering acer anyway for time being.

Bayer Ultimate Bug killer is a good product (Before anyone asks this product is safe for bees, the only Bayer product in question of potentially killing bees is Lawn Grub killer - Neonicotiniods) and should work fine (as long as it wasn't raining after aplication) Is there any sign of the scale insect on the bare branches?

What colour are the tips of the younger branches? (should be a redish colour for red leaf varieties, or green for green leaved). Are there any signs of buds at all?

are you watering with rain or tap water? There really isn't any need to be watering it just yet, you could potentially be doing more harm than good by overwatering when the plant is still dormant.

annie123

VanMan2007 wrote: »

That sounds interesting, Annie123, thank you. Any advice from your dad most welcome. I'll be ripping all my garden up (just a load of weeds at the moment) and starting from scratch.

Plum sounds ideal, I love plums!

The ornamental ones aren't grown for fruit I'm afraid http://www.2020site.org/trees/plum.html
but I'm sure you could substitute an edible one.

My dad's garden is nearly 200' long. He is a minimalist and wife isn't. So the first 1/3 is patio and dog area, the next 1/3 is normal garden and fruit and veg (her garden ) and the last shadier bit is my dads.

He is a take your time and do it once properly type person. He visited private zen/Japanese gardens on open days, read books, then the internet.
Made a scrapbook of print outs from the web and sketches he did, and took it to bonsai garden centre where my DH has done courses and asked what trees he could have that would fit. Lots of excellent free advice given.

Had my dad still been a young man in his prime he would have done it himself , but he's not so he contacted several landscape companies and showed them what he wanted. Picked one that was a good price and understood what he wanted even having never done anything like that before.
The net result is, white gravel around 9mm (much nicer looking than grey) a pond with dwarf bamboo at the back of it and running water into it from a fern covered rock area, a few bonsai dotted around, tall clump forming bamboos, and a small stone pagoda and a simple wooden bench. And 3 trees of course.
It doesn't sound much written down but it's so calm and peaceful.

He photo shopped an ordinary fence onto a zen garden and decided it looked daft so he had split bamboo fencing http://www.bamboostyle.co.uk/ecommerce/Scripts/prodView2~idproduct~5~Split~Bamboo~Fence~Panels.htm
and it really makes a difference.

He wanted a small tea house too but couldn't afford it at the time, so he had the area allocated and assumed it was there whilst planning everything else.
He's sketching his design at present and hopes to do it this year.

http://www.herons.co.uk/ if you're nearby worth a visit.

VanMan2007

Thanks annie123,

Sorry for the delay in replying.

Thanks so much for that. Lots of great information there to get me started. I take my inspiration from my visits to Japan, where the gardens in temples are truly wonderful.

We also have a local garden to me: http://www.buddhamaitreya.co.uk/index.html

I haven't been there for a while, but it is almost like being back in Japan. I don't know if it's very Zen to tap-up the Abbott for plant and tree advice tho! :O

Thanks again annie123, it looks like we're actually getting some weather to enjoy our gardens again now.