Temples and Shrines, Gardens and Connection to Nature in Japan

A composite image of 25 plants and flowers we saw in Japan.

It's been 2 weeks since our Japan trip and we are still sorting through pictures. Unsurprisingly, we are finding many plant photos. The composite image for this post shows some of these photos; all of the photos were taken in a temple or shrine, which got use thinking about the function of these spaces in Japanese cities.

Japan’s temples and shrines offer a tranquil escape from the bustling cities, often nestled in landscapes filled with lush greenery. These sacred sites, whether Buddhist temples or Shinto shrines, are not just places of worship but also havens of nature, where you can relax under towering sugi trees, walk alongside moss gardens and or sip tea in a teahouse gazing out at a curated garden.

Some estimates state that Japan has approximately 80,000 shrines and temples across the country. This means that in many cities, these spiritual sites are as common as convenience stores. With that ubiquity it's easy to get in the trap of trying to see them all. It became clear to us after a few days in Japan that no, we don’t need to see them all, and we should choose ones that were interesting to us.

Japan has a remarkably diversity of flora when you consider its relatively small land area. This is due thanks to the country’s geographical 3,000 kilometers range from the subarctic north of Hokkaido to the subtropical south of Okinawa. This variation in climate allows for a wide array of plant species, including evergreen forests in the south, broad-leaved deciduous forests in central Japan, and alpine vegetation in the mountainous regions.

Beyond these observations, it’s important to note that Japanese culture has a deep, almost intrinsic connection with nature, and this relationship is fostered both through formal education and longstanding cultural practices. We could sense this connection. Even in a city like Tokyo, stepping into alley from a main road, we would find plants adorning entrances or facades.

From an early age, children learn about the natural world in school, often through field trips to local parks, temples, and natural reserves. These experiences, alongside lessons in the classroom, are designed to instill not only an appreciation for the beauty of Japan’s diverse landscapes but also a sense of responsibility for preserving them. This early education is complemented by the cultural ethos shaped by Shinto and Buddhist traditions, where nature itself is revered as sacred. Children grow up seeing natural elements—be they mountains, forests, or even interesting plants in temple gardens—as important parts of their heritage and daily lives.

Nigel Dunnett Restyling in Via Torquato Tasso, Bergamo

Original Post ~ Update January 2024 ~ Update May 2024 ~ 

Update September 2024 ~ Update August 2025

Original Post

Photos of newly installed planting on Via Torquato Tasso, designed by Nigel Dunnett.

Well, color us shocked when we saw they dug up flowerbeds along Via Torquato Tasso (lower city of Bergamo) and planted them it in a very different way. The new way is thanks to the restyling of Nigel Dunnett.

We didn’t know about Nigel Dunnett before he designed the Bergamo Green Square of 2021, which we found spectacular. We are totally on board with his idea of bringing nature into the city.

Thanks to the folks that put on the Bergamo Landscape Festival, Dunnett helped design this stretch of Via Tasso. This part of via Tasso is important because it connects to the Sentierone, the heart of the lower city, which sees a lot of foot traffic. Therefore, an investment in these large non-paved, garden areas is nice to see. About 600 sqm of area was replanted.

We like the transformation so far, and it will be interesting to see how it’s maintained (see updates at end). It looks to be designed for low maintenance with a mixture of plants. To encourage people to respect the plants several signs are affixed to the curbs.

Confidiamo nel tuo rispetto – We trust in your respect.
Sappiamo che ci volete bene – We know you love us.
Siamo certi che ci capirai – We’re sure you’ll understand us.
Siamo sicuri che ci ami – We’re sure you love us.
Speriamo di vivere vicini per tanto tempo – We hope to live close by for a long time

These signs are accompanied with images showing prohibited activities: picking flowers or letting your dog go to the bathroom in the beds. (When we returned a few weeks later after writing this post, the signs were ripped up placed willy-nilly around the beds.)

In fact, while we were photographing these signs, we met some dog owners who were not at all happy with the new plantings. They had to walk farther down the street to let their dogs go to the bathroom. We can’t say we were sympathetic to their cause. (We are not dog owners.) They thought we were photographing the signs because we were angry. I didn’t even try to explain my obsession for signs.

We got the thoughts of another dog owner friend, and it too was negative. To be expected, I guess.

Finally, some nits. In the description of the project, the original plantings are described too negatively in our opinion. In fact, whoever created the sign used the old trick of taking the before pictures in black and white, so they look depressing, and the after pictures in color. Also, the original planting was shown with the heading “stato attuale di degrado” - current state of decline. It wasn’t that bad. Run down? Yes. Misused? Yes. But people lived and worked there. Did they think it was in decline?

One of the before-pictures shows a bicycle parked in the middle of the flowerbed area (aiuola). The entrance of a high school is nearby. People want to lock their bikes up and a safe place to do it is on a pole in the middle of the flowerbed. How is that not going to happen with the new planting? Hopefully more bike racks will be installed. (They were!) The point is, you can’t just say don’t do something and not provide a better solution. We love plants and would love to see more pavement ripped up for more plants, but you have to keep in mind the needs of the people living and working in a place. (And that means dog owners too.)

Also, the pre-redesign planting had some large shrubs that made you feel protected from the street. I miss the mature abelia shrubs (and the bees!) and wish they could have kept a few. (I guess they weren't in line with Dunnett’s style of low-slung grasses and perennials.) The "old" massing of the shrubs was described as not harmonious (disarmonia). True in that there were many, but they seemed better balanced size-wise with the magnolia trees across the street. The new planting contains a few tall plants (like junipers) and perhaps those will provide the balance we are looking for? Change is hard!

Before photos of the landscaped area on left. After photo on right.

Signs asking for people not to pick flowers, or let their dogs go to the bathroom.

Signs asking for people not to pick flowers, or let their dogs go to the bathroom on left. On right, some dogs eye the new plantings.

Update: January 2024

Here's what the plantings look like in winter. In our opinion, not bad. They are holding up.

 

Update: May 2024

The plantings are looking good. Around the edges there are some "bald" spots where dog owners let there dogs roam and sometimes trash bags are put (on trash days).

  

Update: September 2024

  

Update: August 2025

Looking good! All the little signs attached to the curb are gone (or at least we didn't see them). Some of the corners of the plantings are ragged. To that end, there seems to be a rope helping people understand where the plants start and where the dogs shouldn't go. These photos show the plantings on the north side of the street (much more sun exposure). The plantings on the south side of the street (no pictures in this post) haven't fared so well.

 

Amorphophallus bulbifer (Voodoo Lily) Check-in

Amorphophallus bulbifer growth in a four day span from June 26th to June 30th.

We moved back into our Seattle house for the month of June. One of the first things we did is check on our outside Amorphophallus bulbifer. The location is described in these posts: 2009: Growing Amorphophallus bulbifer in the Pacific Northwest – Outdoors and 2012: Rise of the Amorphophallus.

This year's schedule for our A. bulbifer is something like this: through the first half of June, nothing is visible. We worry that we had lost them. Then by mid June, the first leaves start to poke up. By June 30, the biggest plant is almost 2 feet tall, from ground to tip of unfurled leaf. They survived! Looking back at our past notes, this growth pattern is pretty typical.

We dressed the area around the plants with another layer of hazelnut shells, our go-to ground cover, and left them alone. They survive with no watering other than what comes from the sky.

We have two groups of A. bulbifer. One group (group 1 in the photos) is more exposed to the elements and seems to exhibit slower development. Exposed here means more rainwater and open sky. The other group (group 2) is under an overhang of the house and gets less rainwater and open sky. It would be great to measure leaf sizes when both groups are leafed out and see if there is a plant size difference.

Both groups have about a dozen or more plants. We assume the leaves fall over in the Fall and drop their bulbils to give rise to new plants. (The smaller plants are further out away from the house as the leaves would lean that way?) Unfortunately, as the house is rented, we haven't been around to see this new-plant-creation in action, but it must be the case because there are more plants than we originally had.

One of the clumps has a Arisaema consanguineum mixed in that is easy to tell apart from A. bulbifer when all the plants are leafed out. We don't see the A. consaguineum in these photos and wonder if it died or was "weeded out" by a gardening crew that we had come through. From our past notes, the A. consanguineum comes up a full month to 2 months earlier and it should be visible and it isn't.

Until next time A. bulbifer, stay well and avoid the errant gardeners.

June 24th. Left group 1 and right group 2.

June 26th. Left group 1 and right group 2.

June 27th. Group 2.

June 28th. Left group 1, center group 2, right group 2 from inside house.



June 29th. Left group 1 and right group 2.

June 30th. Left and center, group 1 and right group 2.

A Visit to Great Dixter: House, Garden, and People

Left: Great Dixter Peacock Topiary; Right: Section of the Great Dixter Long Border
Here are some thoughts and of course, plant pictures, from a recent visit to this special garden in East Sussex, England. We “won” an auction item to spend a day at Great Dixter. It turned out to be a visit that changed our views of many things, including gardening.

House

• I can’t deny it, the oast house (for drying hops) and its three cowls were initially the most eye-catching Great Dixter feature. I had never seen anything like it before, a kind of land-bound steamship. According to the Great Dixter Guide, the oast house was build around 1890 and used up to 1939. The cowls turn with the wind to prevent smoke and steam from entering back into the kiln. Oast houses are characteristic of the Weald (from Old English signifying woodland), an area in Southeast England situated between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs.
• The great sweep of the main house’s roof, sprouting some serious chimney action, is an architectural metaphor that feels secure and comforting. Roofs are highly under-rated here in America, as most tend to look like ill-fitting hats. This brings to mind the quote from A Pattern Language (1977): pattern 117 Sheltering Roof. “The roof plays a primal role in our lives. The most primitive buildings are nothing but roof. If the roof is hidden, if its presence cannot be felt around the building, or if it cannot be used, then people will lack a fundamental sense of shelter.”
• The slumped front porch makes one stop and ponder (hopefully to yourself) "why haven’t they shored it up?" But that is the wrong urge for this house.
• We stayed one night in the Luytens’ addition (to the left of the front porch when you look at the house from the front). The only (sensible) precaution we were given was to be careful with a certain antique table’s top. Other than that, we were free to explore. I remember going to sleep reading from a Sackville-West’s In Your Garden that was in the bookshelf.

Garden

• It is surprising - on reflection now several weeks later and reviewing the garden overview in detail - how the layout of the house and garden makes it easy to make endless circuits through them and feel like you are taking a different path each time. Both the house and the garden have many “doors” to access different rooms so the discovery potential is rich.
• Plantings that rarely reveal visible soil. One species may be in full bloom, but right behind it temporally, and underneath it spatially, another is ready for its time to shine. The result is little bare ground waiting for something to fill in. After a visit to Great Dixter, you’ll never look at bare soil in a garden design quite the same way. It has changed our own approach in our small garden back in Seattle.
• Gardening by putting different plants together, not separating them. And, embracing ever-changing combinations of plants that may never be the same as what you see at a particular moment.
• The pot displays, such as the one in the walled garden and the ones by the entry. On first glance, they might seem like a causal arrangement. But it’s better to think of them as one of many of the tests one of the lucky interns or staff might need to take.
• The terrace off of the Yeoman’s Hall has plants between the stone pavers, simultaneously challenging your sense of order and offering an invitation to walk carefully among them to explore.

A list of plants is given below.

People

• We were moved by the generosity we were given in time and information from all the people we encountered during our stay, including head gardener Fergus, staff that helped us, to students who took time to show us around.
• While at lunch for fish and chips in Northiam (not bad, but go to Maggies in Hastings if you can), we picked up the The National Gardens Scheme – Gardens Open for Charity (www.ngs.org.uk). The guide lists outstanding gardens through England and Wales which are open to raise money for charity. Most of the gardens are private and are not normally open to visitors. The guide emphasized to us how important gardens and gardening, and pride of sharing your garden are an important part of the English culture.

Selected Plants

We include links to the Great Dixter nursery where we could find the plant in the online catalog. We did this for two reasons. We believe that the nursery only sells what is propagated there so it’s a good check that we have identified the right plant. Also, the descriptions of some of the plants are entertaining.

Furthermore, we don’t have a picture for every plant we list below. And finally, we were visiting in May so we witness to just a a fraction of what the Garden displays throughout the year.
Finally, a note about gathering these names. It was a bit of a chore because nothing is labeled in the gardens. I suppose if we had more time, we could have spent some time in the nursery and asked. However, we did it by badgering people and then endless flipping through books back at home. In particular, the “Wheel Tree” Trochodendron aralioides was very difficult to identify.  We brute-forced this identification. Using the 1000 plus page American Horticultural Society A to Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, we scanned each page until we found it.
In A Guide to Great Dixter (which you can buy onsite) Christopher Lloyd writes “The plants at Dixter are unlabelled. I know this is a bore, when you quickly want a plant’s name.” And, then he gives a list of nine reasons (see image below). My favorite is number 2: “I hate the look of labels. Like a cemetery.”


Actinidia kolomikta [nursery]
Allium cristophii [nursery]
Aquilegia ‘Kansas’ [nursery]
Astrantia ‘Hadspens Blood’ [nursery]
Cotoneaster horizontalis [nursery]
Dactylorhiza fucshii – Entry talking about them in the front meadow.
Eryngium serbicum [nusery]
Erysimum ‘Bowles’s Mauve’ [nursery]
Euphorbia griffithii ‘Dixter’ [nursery]
Euphorbia mellifera [nursery]
Euphorbia palustris [nursery], but possibly Euphorbia polychromaFerula communis ‘Gigantea’ [nursery]
Geranium maderense [nursery]
Gladiolus communis ssp. byzantinus [nursery]
Gunnera tinctoria [nursery] – Entry talking about them along the Horse Pond.
Hesperis matronalis ‘Alba’ [nursery]
Morus nigra [nursery] There used to be two mulberry trees, now there is one. Interesting flowers.
Nectarscordum siculum [nursery]
Pachyphragma macrophyllum [nursery]
Papaver orientale ‘Karine’ [nursery]
Paris polyphlla [nursery]
Rhinanthus minor [ref] – The meadow’s secret weapon? Yellow rattle in the meadows parasitizes grasses and allows for greater diversity of non-grasses.
Silene fimbriata [nursery]
Smyrnium perfoliatum [nursery]
Trochodendron aralioides [nursery]

Also, see the 2014 Great Dixter Nusery Catalog.

Flowers Photos

Left: Actinidia kolomikta; Right: Alliums and Clematis


Left: Allium cristophii; Right: Aquilegia 'Kansas'


Astrantia


Left: Papaver orientale ‘Karine’; Right: Dactylorhiza fuchsii


Left: Gladiolus communis ssp. byzantinus; Right: Iris


Left: Euphorbia griffithii ‘Dixter’; Right: Silene fimbriata


Left: Euphorbia palustris; Right: Trochodendron aralioides


Ferula communis ‘Gigantea’


Left: Geranium maderense; Right: Gunnera tinctoria (edge of the Horse Pond)



Left: Morus nigra; Right: Euphorbia mellifera

Great Dixter Long Border

Spaces and Garden Rooms Around the House

Creatures

Left: Current Great Dixter Dachshunds; Right Blackbird in a Mahonia

Around the Gardens

Pot Displays

Roof and Chimneys

A Guide to Great Dixter. Left: Cover; Right: Page with List of Why Labels are Not Used