In the first week of November, I accompanied a group of volunteers from the Japanese Garden Society to prune the Acer palmatum collection in the Kurume Azalea Garden at Kew Gardens and to take a tour of the Japanese Landscape by supervising gardener Jake Davies-Robertson.

The Kurume Azalea garden is named in recognition of the set of 50 Azaleas selected by the plant hunter Ernest Wilson, on behalf of the Arnold Arboretum in 1917.  The Azaleas are selected from the garden of Mr Kijiro Akashi, of the city Kurumi, from the southern-most Japanese Island of Kyushu. These Azaleas were notable at the time for being winter hardy and consequently could be grown outside in a temperate climate.

Under the supervision of Jake, ten volunteers carried out maintenance pruning of Acer palmatum cultivars which adorned the Azalea garden, including amongst others, ‘Osakasuki’, ‘Beni Maiko’, ‘Shishigashira’, ‘Garnet’, ‘Bloodgood’ and ‘Koto-no-ito’.  We took the approach of respecting the present form of the trees and took out any dead, damaged and diseased wood, crossing and parallel branches, and thinning down overly dense areas.

In the afternoon, we were given a tour of the Japanese Landscape.  The Japanese landscape at Kew was designed by Professor Masao Fukuhara in 1996.  At its centre is a wooden structure named the Chokushi Mon, known in English as the Gateway of the Imperial Messenger.  It is a 4/5 size replica of the Karamon Gate of the Nishi Hongan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.  This replica was gifted to Kew as a relic of the 1910 Japan-British Exhibition of White City, West London, which as a historical event, was emblematic of the craze for Japanese inspired culture in early 20th Century Britain.

The presence of five mature ‘Beni Maiko’ specimens means that spring colour will be striking, and if my own specimen is a reliable representative of the selection, will be blazing with new red leaves in the first to third weeks of April next year, a great time to visit the garden to see the Acers and Azaleas.  They can be found between Princess Walk and Stafford Walk.

For more information on Kurume Azaleas, https://visit.caerhays.co.uk/the-estate/the-gardens/wilson-50-azaleas/

For more information on the Japanese Landscape at Kew, https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/things-didnt-know-japanese-gardens-kew