Recently (as I was free, thank to vacation) I was searching for courses on terrarium and ended up with the course which I never heard but keen to know what exactly is it. I went with no clue or you can say an empty cup.. to know more about this technique, surprisingly i was so fascinated I ended doing 6 of those kind. I am referring to Kokedama.
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| This was done by me! |
Before that I would like to give a gist of info on ancient gardening techniques used till now. I try to gather a little information on them. Japanese Gardening is vast and an artistic way to represent the nature with natural materials. There are few methods of growing plants when they are young, mature and all grown. I am going to take only four of them.
1. Ne-arai - Root washed out
A mature single or multiple plants of same kind cultivated in a container. Once the roots are well grown, it will be removed from the container and then the soil too. Its an art of displaying a mature plants with root visible in a tray. Gradually the moss grows naturally. Matured plants are used.
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| I took this picture from kusamono.ch |
2. Kusamono - The name is composed of two japanese character - grass thing
It is more of arrangement of wild grass. The three basic type of planting would be - moss ball, out of pot and in container. They are more often used as a support to bonsai to indicate the season. Matured plants are used.
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| I took this picture from kojikis.wordpress.com |
3. Bonsai - Planting in a tray
Very common and well known technique. A tree forced to remain small and planted in traditional pottery. It requires more time and dedication. Matured plant with less require of water is used.
4. Kokedama - Moss ball, referred as mini-bonsai.
This is another technique likely to see among florist. In this the plant is wrapped with a mixture of coco peat, akadama and final layer with moss sheet using string or thread. This is also referred as string garden and very easy to do. Young plants are used and later we can use it for Ne-arai.
I came across these four but there might be much more concept alone in Japanese gardening.
I will give in detail about kokedam in my next post.
Happy Gardening
Choyee
