Niwaki

When we moved into our house five years ago, the yard was neat but overgrown and pretty much hid the house from view. It was clear that some planning had gone into the design, but years of unskilled care by professional landscape maintenance crews had dulled the finer design elements and rendered the shrubbery into loaves.  A very respectable Northwest Washington yard -- green, tidy, and dull.  

It didn't take too long before Cass was out there with an electric saw cutting down small trees. I followed with tree saws, pruners, and contractor bags to cut up and dispose of the branches, and picks and shovels to remove the roots.  The Magnolia grandiflora, too close to the house, mostly in shade of towering Quercus palustris (pin oaks), and rather scragly,  except on top where we couldn't see it, was removed by professionals --   Bartlett Tree Experts.  Afterwards I still worked on removing roots and I nearly ruined the Sawzaw.  Despite the power tool, a gray catbird (Dumetella carolinensis) kept me company most days when I was out there, most likely looking for worms and other things in the soil.  I found it interesting that it's foot was banded -- it visited me for several years whenever I was out digging. 





One of the final "loaves" in the garden was an Ilex cornuta (Chinese or horned holly) at the end of wall.  Originally in a sea of ivy, it was really more of a "boule" but still, Cass had wanted to remove it since we moved in -- I held out since it was a mature shrub and is green in winter -- this last point a big plus for me.  After closer inspection, it became apparent that it did not get it's shape from being pruned --this shrub actually grow into a green blob making it highly desirable as a landscaping staple, no doubt, but still quite dull for a garden.  And although it's a slow grower, it had grown considerably in five years, and in a small garden takes up a lot of space.

Several years later, after a trip to Japan, more interest in extreme horticulture, like bonsai -- too high maintenance for me except for one well-trained jade, forest style or Yose-ue, and growing appreciation of niwaki, it seemed like the holly would be a good test subject.  Niwaki in Japanese means "garden trees" and is about shaping them to look like older trees on a smaller scale than they would appear in nature.  Not unlike bonsai, there are specific styles of niwaki.  There are some good examples on Biltmore, in Adams-Morgan -- a whole row of Ilex cornuta pruned into niwaki. I've admired them for years.  After more threats from Cass that the holly needed to go, since it does occupy one of the sunnier spots on the bank, I thought why not niwaki?  If it didn't work, the holly was a goner anyway. 
 

To get me in the mood, I made soba noodles and quick radish pickles with miso and garlic. After lunch I thought I ought to inspect things first.  I soon discovered why it's called a horned holly.  It has very, very, very sharp tipped leaves which kinda look like horns when you hold it up.  Also discovered that the holly had been damaged during Snowmaggedon 2010, the back to back February blizzards.  Which makes me wonder what Cass was up to that week if he was not knocking snow off the shrubbery.  He has mentioned something about shoveling snow... 110' sidewalk on one side, 70' on the other, 20" plus 18" of snow.  How would I know, I was stuck in New Orleans... at The Roosevelt, in a HUGE suite. 

Oh yes, the holly... still full of soba and radishes and armed with our best felco puners, I put on leather gloves, a heavy shirt and headed out.  The great thing about these hollies is that they have complex and sculptural branch structures, all hidden under a thick layer of spiny leaves.  Several hours later I had pretty much finished pruning and had... sticks.  Interestingly shaped sticks, but few leaves, mostly just sticks.  So much for the rule of only pruning a third.

I removed the ivy underneath and the following day started placing rocks around it so that it looks "natural" in that extreme horticultural kind of way.  To complete the  miniature rock garden look, I gave it an underplanting of Ophiopogon japonicus 'Nana' (dwarf mondo grass which is actually a lily and has delightful blue berries when it fruits).  Cass added some succulents and a cactus he has been dividing. 

After a few weeks, the holly started sprouting leaves.  It fits into the context of the Point much better and now it looks like a different shrub - it looks like niwaki.  Now to keep it that way....