Recent Projects

Project: Pruning pine trees in spring
Niwaki trees used from Japanese Tree Shapes: black pine and Scots pine
Location: Devon, UK

It’s been a beautiful Spring here in East Devon. Our focus in the coming weeks will be on pruning our range of black pine and Scots pine trees. Andy has been busy shortening the candles on both species. This means that they will re-shoot later in the summer to develop the cloud pruning effect. If you are interested in any of our pines for your garden projects, please get in touch. Pines are perfect for positioning in sunny spots as a focal point. We have 3 in pots which will be ready from July onwards.

Project: Cultivating holm oak in narrow space
Niwaki trees used from Japanese Tree Shapes: Holm Oak
Location: Devon, UK

This holm oak has been grown in situ for around 12 years. It is located on a workshop building at Japanese Tree Shapes premises in East Devon. We decided to put it here to create a feature tree in a narrow space to provide greenery in the Niwaki style. Andy has trained the tree using danzukuri style steps – an alternate branched form for asymmetry – and prunes it regularly twice a year to maintain the shape. We would recommend this for any projects in which there is limited space or against a wall to add greenery.  Our holm oaks are currently sold out, but if you are interested in our next collection, please get in touch and we will keep you updated on stock availability.

Project: Using Niwaki pruned trees as features on a coastal roof garden

Urban Earth (landscape design team) contacted us to enquire about our Niwaki pruned holm oak and pine trees for a coastal roof garden project they were working on in Torquay, Devon. We invited Martin from Urban Earth to our Niwaki nursery in East Devon to view the stock and select the trees he would like to use in his design. Holm oak and pine are both resilient for the challenging coastal environment, so were an ideal choice for the project.

Photos from the project:

Project: Visit from Landscape Architecture student, Moka, from Japan

Our friends at Mokoyousha connected us with Moka, a Landscape Architecture MA student at Sheffield University. Moka visited us for a short stay at Japanese Tree Shapes and helped us with some Niwaki pruning of our pine trees. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with Moka and look forward to seeing her again soon.

Photos from Moka’s visit:

Other projects from Japanese Tree Shapes

Here are some examples of how we have used cloud pruning, pleaching and topiary in an English garden using bamboo supports. These styles wwere inspired by gardens in Kyoto and Chino which Andy visited and worked in on his trips to Japan.