JAPANESE "INVASION"

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 58, 27 May 1942, Page 5

JAPANESE "INVASION"

MANY SHRUBS AND TREES FEW GARDENS WITHOUT THEM The Japanese "invasion" of the British, Empire, including! Great Britain, started years ago—horticultural ly speaking. Perhaps it should, be called peaceful penetration, for certainly there was nothing aggressive in the way wc took Japanese plants into our gardens and nurtured thean. There is scarcely a garden in Whakatane that is not graced by one or other of them. There are trees from Japan, there are flowering shrubs and border plants, and it would; be a serious loss to our gardens if these foreigners had to be evacuated. Almost before winter is half done some of the shrubs aw braving the storms and the cold Avith delicate pe tailed flowers. Among thei first is the Avell known japonica, the twiggy, prickly bush Avith floAvcrs like apple blossoms, some pure Avhite, others going through all the shades; of red, from palest pink to deepest crimson. "Japonica" is the botanical) way of saying Japanese and the Avord is

not really the name of the plant but rather the description of it. The complete name is Cydonia japonica. sometimes called Japanese quince because of the fruits that follow the flowers. Next come the flowering cherries, spreading and upright, double and single, deep pink and pale, and all flowering so generously it cannot be doubted they enjoy living abroad. Then there is wistaria, and about the same; time the green or purpltj leaves of the Japanese maples unfold, so. delicate-looking that they misled 'English gardeners to grow them indoors and it Avasi only by chance that someone found the plants were* hardy out of doors even in an English winter. The same mistake was made about camellias, until they grew too big for the greenhouse that had sheltered them. After they had been thrust outside to do or die they thrived and are no longer considiered a tender plant. A smaller variety callcd Camellia sasanqua has become popular in late years—they still bear the names their Japanese raisers gave them. Another shrub from the same country is Kerria japonica, with either single or double flowers of bright yellow smothering the branches in spring.

In the flower border the common name gives the show away in one or two cases for we have Japanese iris, that will grow in water, and Japanese anemones. Lilium auratum hides the fact that another name lor the same fine flower is the golden-rayed lily of Japan. Then there arc the chrysanthemums in bewildering variety of shape, size ami colour. Japaneso treevs are not so wellknown. There is a cousin of our native kowhai called Sophora japonica, but it is nothing like our own for beauty. The lloAvers arc small, and blue audi white. The Japanese cedar, Cryptomeria, is a handsome tree; with seft plump foliage thai goes the colour of bronze in a cold winter. Then there are the dwarf cypresses of the rock garden, some of them grotesque in shape like those in old Japanese prints. From the purely utilitarian point 'if view, there are also the Japanese nhims. Only just finished, are the last of the late crops of Satsumas-— tiie prince of all plums. Thei Japanese varieties are what the nurserymen call the "best doers" in this district, and most garden orchards are snowy with thei' 1 blossom in '-he spring. These "-re a few of the betterknown plants from Japan, plants which have been adopted so completely in our gardens.