From flower displays to a living landscape at Tsukuba Peony Garden
Updated: 20 minutes ago
When Dr. Koichi Seki encountered a tree peony called “Hoki” at the opening of Tsukuba Peony Garden in 1989, he was captivated.
“It was love at first sight,” he recalls.
Then the plant began to weaken. Eventually, it died.
Dr. Seki’s frustration prompted him to reconsider how he grew peonies. It also set him on a path that would gradually change the garden itself-from carefully arranged flower displays into a landscape where peonies, trees and the surrounding countryside could be enjoyed together.
The “Hoki” tree peony that inspired Dr. Seki to reconsider his cultivation methods. Courtesy of Tsukuba Peony Garden and LEAF Co., Ltd.
Today, Peony Garden Tokyo in Tsukuba, in Ibaraki Prefecture, is one of the world’s largest gardens of tree and herbaceous peonies. It features approximately 60,000 plants across 800 varieties.
Those numbers describe its scale. Its 37-year evolution reveals how the garden acquired its character.
From flower displays to a living landscape
When Tsukuba Peony Garden first opened, its tree peonies were displayed in separate, deliberately arranged plots.
Over time, Dr. Seki began pursuing a different experience. Rather than presenting the flowers on their own, he wanted them to become part of the surrounding landscape.
The garden gradually evolved towards a satoyama setting-the traditional Japanese countryside where woodland and land tended by people exist alongside one another. Its terrain became part of the setting for the flowers, with trees and other planting contributing to the experience.
Visitors could appreciate individual blooms while also enjoying the landscape around them.
Dr. Seki’s encounter with the dying peony had led him to study growing conditions more closely. Around 1991, he began working on soil improvement.
That work supported a broader change in his thinking: how could he create an environment in which the flowers would continue to thrive?
As his approach evolved, so did the way he described the garden.
“A few years ago, I stopped wanting to call it a tree peony garden,” he says. “I wanted to call it a ‘Peony Garden’-a garden of both tree and herbaceous peonies.”
The distinction between those names may seem small. For Dr. Seki, it expressed a wider ambition: a garden experienced as a whole, with the flowers belonging to the landscape around them.
A garden shaped one season at a time
The landscape visitors see today wasn’t the outcome of a detailed vision drawn up in 1989.
Dr. Seki says he wasn’t imagining what the garden would become nearly four decades later. His attention was on the plants in front of him and the work each season required.
“I wasn’t thinking at all about what it would look like 37 years later. Each year, I worked as hard as I could to plant flowers, grow them and help them bloom beautifully. What you see today is the accumulation of all that effort.”
That gives the garden’s history a different rhythm from a conventional development project. There was no single moment when the landscape could be declared complete.
Decisions about what to plant, what to retain and where to make changes continued year after year. Each season offered another opportunity to observe the garden and adjust it.
The garden’s history, illustrated for the “Green Hunt Notebook” marking its 35th anniversary. English adaptation of the original Japanese illustration. Original courtesy of Tsukuba Peony Garden and LEAF Co., Ltd.
There were also periods when social and economic conditions made reinvestment difficult. Dr. Seki continued caring for the garden, making the improvements that were possible at the time.
Its development depended on sustained attention as well as investment. The continuity of that care helped shape the garden visitors experience today.
The daily work behind the spring display
During the garden’s annual opening season, around April and May, Dr. Seki makes his rounds early each morning.
He checks how many tree and herbaceous peony plants are flowering and shares his observations through the garden’s online guide and official social media channels in his “Director’s Diary.”
These daily checks are a small but revealing part of his approach. Even after 37 years, his attention remains on how the garden is performing that day.
Garden director and “soil craftsman” Dr. Koichi Seki on his early-morning rounds. During the opening season, he checks and reports on flowering conditions each day. Courtesy of Tsukuba Peony Garden and LEAF Co., Ltd.
For visitors, the spring display is a seasonal attraction. For its director, it’s the visible result of work that continues from one year to the next.
What a mature garden brings to a property
For owners of holiday homes, resorts and residences with gardens, this history offers a useful perspective on the grounds surrounding a building.
A building can reach completion on a scheduled date. A garden continues to develop as plants grow, seasons change and those caring for it make decisions about its future.
The greenery seen through a window, the planting along a path and the atmosphere of the grounds all contribute to the experience of staying somewhere. Their character develops through both the original design and the care that follows.
Tsukuba Peony Garden makes that passage of time visible. Its identity emerged through decades of planting, observation and adjustment, with Dr. Seki responding to the place as it grew.
The flowers bring visitors through the gate each spring. The landscape around them tells the longer story.
Profile
Dr. Koichi Seki - Soil craftsman and Director of Peony Garden Tokyo in Tsukuba.
Born in 1960, Dr. Seki has spent more than 30 years developing soil improvement techniques, with a focus on soil microorganisms, organic matter and cultivation without pesticides. He also helped develop “Thoroughbred Miho,” a fermented compost made primarily from horse manure.
In March 2022, he completed a doctoral programme in agriculture at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. He continues to provide soil preparation guidance and consulting, alongside work on techniques that can be passed on to future generations.
Further Reading:
Buy your own thoroughbred compost here (Japanese only)
