I’ve lived in the same corner of London for the best part of 15 years and increasingly the pavements and parks are layered like onion skins, holding memories of my youth that I don’t realise are there until I return. This week I took my newborn daughter to Peckham in south-east London, to meet a friend in a cafe I’d never heard of. When I turned up, I realised it used to be a regular haunt of mine, and suddenly I was both a tired woman in her late 30s with two kids, and also 22, unemployed and making the most of happy hour.
I bring this up because of what was on the table: a kokedama. If you’re unfamiliar, the word translates to “moss ball”. A decade ago, I saw them hanging outside the doorways of houses in deserted, snow-covered mountain villages in Japan, holding the tremulous fronds of overwintering ferns. The technique dates back centuries, a side-product of the art of bonsai that has become popular in its own right. Kokedama are a lot easier to create at home than bonsai trees: plants’ rootballs are removed from their pots and packed tightly with dense moss, before being bound with the string that can be used to hang them up with.
The appeal of kokedama, it seems, is cyclical. I’d been familiar with the concept before my trip to Japan. Kokedama were part of the mid-2010s houseplant craze, and at that time they often contained fussy plants such as maidenhair ferns or alocasias.
The ones in the cafe were a more contemporary version: the kokedama was a squat little mound, sitting quietly as if growing straight from the table. While the moss looked green and plump, it was home to a few artfully placed sprigs of limonium (sea lavender) and sanguisorba – kokedama as a non-polluting answer to florists’ foam.
It prompted me to think about how I could use them in and outside the house at this bleak time of year. At the Chelsea Physic Garden’s Heralding Spring festival, crops of snowdrops rise from kokedama hanging in the trees; a welcome dose of magic at this time of year. The garden’s festival traditionally kicks off the gardening year in late January.
Kokedama, derived from the Japanese words “koke” (moss) and “dama” (ball), represents a unique and artistic form of planting. It’s an offshoot of the ancient Japanese art of bonsai, but significantly more accessible for the average home gardener. The process involves carefully removing a plant’s rootball from its pot and encasing it in a tightly packed ball of moss, then binding it with string for display – either hanging or tabletop.
The resurgence of kokedama isn’t simply about aesthetics. It speaks to a broader shift in how we interact with plants and our living spaces. The mid-2010s houseplant craze, which initially propelled kokedama into the spotlight, reflected a desire to bring nature indoors, to cultivate a sense of calm and wellbeing in increasingly urbanized environments. Now, the evolution of the kokedama – moving away from demanding species towards more sustainable and low-maintenance options like sea lavender and sanguisorba – suggests a growing awareness of ecological responsibility.
The technique itself is relatively straightforward. Creating a kokedama requires peat-free potting soil mixed with bonsai compost or sharp sand to ensure proper drainage. The mixture needs to be moist enough to hold its shape, achieving a mud-pie-ready consistency. The plant, ideally a hardy fern or a bulb in the green, is then carefully removed from its pot. A coconut-sized ball is formed around the rootball using the compost mix, with excess moisture squeezed out. This ball is then wrapped in sheet moss and secured with crisscrossed twine, leaving enough excess to create a hanging loop.
The beauty of kokedama lies in its simplicity, and adaptability. It’s a gardening technique that can be tailored to suit individual preferences and skill levels. Whether displayed as a hanging garden or a tabletop centerpiece, the kokedama offers a tangible connection to nature, a small pocket of tranquility in the midst of a busy life. And, as evidenced by its reappearance in a London cafe and a celebrated botanical garden, it’s a trend that continues to blossom, offering a touch of Japanese artistry to homes and gardens around the world.
