Report: Consul General’s courtesy call on Tina Murphy, Lord Provost of Clackmannanshire and tree planting at the Japanese Garden in Cowden

On 22th March 2019, Consul General Nozomu Takaoka paid a courtesy visit to Tina Murphy, Lord Provost of Clackmannanshire. Noting the renovation of Cowden’s Japanese Garden, as well future development plans, they agreed to use the garden as a way of strengthening cultural exchange with Japan.

Following the courtesy call, the Consul General visited the Japanese Garden in Cowden, where 22 cherry blossom trees were planted for the first wave of the 2019-2020 Japan – UK Season of Culture’s ‘Sakura Project’.

Despite some difficult Scottish weather, Luke Graham MP; The Garden’s Manager Kate White, and fundraiser Becca Logan; the Consul General; and 16 Horticulture students from Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden came together for the planting. For the Consul General’s full address from the day, please click here.

Since 2014, the Japanese Garden’s Chair and Trustee, Sarah Stewart has been in charge of the garden’s renovation. The Sakura Project aims to have over 1,000 cherry trees planted across the UK. Of this, the Japanese Garden in Cowden is on schedule to have planted 100 trees.

The garden will reopen to the public on 6th of April, for more details please click here.