Both Sides of the Gate: May 2026 at the Japanese Garden of Peace

Sunday 31 May brought around ten Friends to the Japanese Garden of Peace in Hammersmith Park, with the warmer weather pulling the garden into full growth — and the season's first real flush of new bamboo shoots with it. Among us was a visitor from the United States, who joined for the day while staying with friends in London; it is the second time a transatlantic guest has lent a hand. As ever, the day opened with a litter pick before the heavier work began.

Main gate, left side | A clear view through

Most of the day went to the main gate, where the clearing begun at the April session carried on in earnest, this time on both sides. On the left, the Friends worked through a tangle of dried, dead low bamboo, taking some of it out altogether and cutting the rest back into shape. The result is a genuine see-through: the planting reads as open and tended for the first time in a while, rather than a wall of brown. A few branches that looked dead have been left in place — now that the growth crowding them has gone, they may yet shoot, and we will reassess them next month.

Main gate, right side | Hard-pruning, and a log stack for wildlife

The right side had been left unattended for years, and what we take to be a laurel had spread well into the space around the gate. Bringing it back within bounds called for some hard pruning. Rather than bag and cart the cuttings away as green waste, the Friends built a log stack on the spot — a deliberate habitat pile that gives insects, and the creatures that feed on them, somewhere to shelter. A small change in how we work, but a useful one: the material that comes out of the garden does some good without leaving it.

Bamboo | New shoots removed, cloud-pruning maintained

Away from the gate, the warmer weather meant the annual battle with the bamboo started up again. New shoots were removed across the groves to keep the canes in check, and the established clumps were cloud-pruned to hold their shape through the growing season. Routine work, but the kind that has to be stayed on top of — leave it a month and the form the garden is known for begins to slip.

Thanks | A productive May at the Japanese Garden of Peace

Thank you to everyone who came out on Sunday, and to our visitor from across the Atlantic for joining in. The work on both sides of the main gate had been overdue, and it was good to see it properly underway. Twenty ton bags of green waste went out by the end of the day — a heavy haul — with the right-side cuttings staying on site as the habitat pile rather than adding to it.