Yamabuki – The Japanese Yellow Rose

Hearing frogs We pluck yellow yamabuki roses In the field And float them in our sake cups How pleasant the picnic is!

We have used Japanese Kerria (Yamabuki, or Japanese Yellow Rose herein ‘JK’) in this clients yard as a deep shade flowering shrub that we prune into a more geometric form. We are departing from the geometric form to go back to a more naturalized bush look. Notice at the foot of the hedge in this photo the new growth shoots popping out of the ground.  As this plant takes into an area it will send out and up new growth shoots. This year, I harvested those new shoots to build the client 3 new JK gardens. I harvested approximately 100 rooted new growth shoots, planted and watered for less than $150. 100 1 gallon JK would have cost over $1,000.00 – Another way to look at this is if the client paid 500 for the initial installation of the JK with this new harvesting and transplantation that investment just paid for itself in savings, so to speak. Garden Smart.

Here are the new growth shoots coming up from the soil.

With a simple shovel under the new growth shoot and a gentle lift back toward the plant, the root system and new plant easily come out of the super loamy organic soil we have developed over the past 7 years on this site.

I have the roots sitting in water while I am pulling them out before they go back into the soil. Keep the roots wet during the transition (less than 2-3 hrs)

This is how I plant the new shoot back into the soil  - basically the same way they came out. A shallow long trench made with a few strokes of the perennial shovel. Notice how rich and dark that soil is. You are looking at 40+ years of fir needle decomposition.

I place them in, cover them up and soak them.

Below are photo’s of the new JK gardens. In a matter of 2 seasons these gardens will be booming and ready for more transplants into other parts of the yard or even for resale into other clients properties. No chemicals, no insect control – none of that crap – Easy. Garden Smart. The Japanese Yellow Rose.

JK is a solid plant for deeper shade flowering. It is hardy, it is easy to trasplant and it is pretty. A good consideration for mass plantings in woodland areas or as backdrops, formal or not, in shade gardens.

I searched for medicinal uses of this plant and found nothing, though I only looked for around 15 minutes. If you know of more uses for this plant, please do share.

More photo’s of JK here