Serenity in the Garden

In one of my earlier blog posts I wrote about the Native Americans' Three Sisters Garden (corn, beans and squash )  but I neglected to tell you of the Fourth Sister ...a very important member of this family! This is from Hubpages :  "Fourth Sister, didn't look anything like her other sisters, although she was as tall and as slender as First Sister (corn) . That seemed fair to all, because Third Sister and Second Sister shared similar but different features. They could climb and run, while their other two sisters were forced to stand tall and proud." Mother Sun explained that each sister had her job and each had to benefit from and protect one another.  But Fourth Sister's job was most important of all -- for she was the guardian of the North , planted firmly, to protect others from the robbers who soon would come. The fourth sister was the elegant sunflower. The Sisters are known to the Native Americans as the “mothers...

Every year I reprint this at dandelion time where I live-   The dreaded Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) , for which we spend tremendous amounts of weed killer money to eradicate, has been prized over the years for its medicinal and nutritious properties. In fact, dandelion roots, flowers and "dandelion greens" (leaves) are all edible! Dandelions are a rich source of vitamins A, B complex, C, and D, as well as minerals such as iron, potassium, and zinc. And in traditional medicine, dandelion roots and leaves were used to treat liver problems. Native Americans used dandelion decoctions (liquid made by boiling down the herb in water) to treat kidney disease, swelling, skin problems, heartburn, and stomach upset. Young Dandelion leaves • Dandelion roots can be roasted as a coffee-substitute, or boiled and stir-fried as a cooked vegetable. • Dandelion flowers can be made into a wine. • Dandelion greens can be boiled, as you would spin...

garden by Jan Johnsen The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. ~ George Bernard Shaw Being in a garden elevates us and inspires many of us... That is the why I write this blog.  I want to share my lifelong landscape work and experience with others so that you, too, will ‘touch the earth’. And I want to promote a reverent way of looking at the green world which sees the piece of ground outside our door as an ‘everyday conduit’ to the energy of life that flows within plants, water, trees, sunlight, rocks, birds and assorted creatures. a place, as George Bernard Shaw declared, where we can touch the divine. Looking at the natural world in this way is nothing new. The idea of sanctified outdoor space was the genesis for the sacred groves of the Egyptians, Indians and Greeks.  It birthed the medieval labyrinths and Native Americans’ 'medicine wheels'.  And of course, ancient Chinese geomancy, ‘Fen...

Penstemon Arabesque™ Red -  2014 AAS Flower Winner Penstemon Arabesque™ Red  is an exciting new hybrid perennial that has great vigor and flowers beautifully. No staking required. Loves heat. It’s striking red and white bicolor flowers are large and bell-shaped.  They grow 18 - 24 inches high.  They attract both hummingbirds and butterflies all summer. They come back every year. Arabesque loves full sun and  add height to the middle of the flower bed or in containers. Remove spent flowers to encourage continuous flowering. Zones 6-9. Penstemon are perfect in cottage gardens too. Sturdy and should be better known. When I was just starting out in the profession  I had a French gardener boss who loved Penstemon We grew it from seed in the greenhouse.... other colors too! ' Penstemon barbatus 'Elfin Pink' with Nepeta 'Walker's Low'

Thomas Church - Donnell Residence, Sonoma, CA 1948 Thomas Church was one of the most influential American landscape architects of the twentieth century. His ideas on the 'modern' landscape revolutionized home landscaping and changed the look of the suburban backyard.  Born in Boston in 1902, he attended college in California and came under the spell of its climate and outdoor lifestyle.  Church received his landscape architecture degree from Berkeley in 1923 and his Masters in Landscape Architecture from Harvard in 1926. Tommy Church - Plan for Donnell Church urged people to see residential property as a single living space with the house and garden directly connected.  This was a dramatic notion for its day.   His greatest influence was through his books and numerous articles. His popular book on home landscapes, 'Gardens are for People ,' was published in 1955.    Church advocated four basic landscape design principles: •...

"With the waxing of the moon, the earth exhales." - Ute York Lunar gardening is fun and makes so much sense!  Photo above is from the SpaceFellowship, Rob Goldsmith . The gravitational pull of the moon on the earth affects water on our planet. The moon's pull is stronger than the sun because, even though the sun is larger, the moon is closer to the earth. As the moon gets full or waxes, its gravitational pull on the earth gets stronger. And it is felt the most when the moon is full (the moon and sun pull from the opposite sides of the earth at this time).  This is when the tides are at their height and  people go a little wild. But not only does the moon’s gravity affect tides and us, it also affects  underground water tables .  So if you plant when the moon is waxing or growing toward being full, remember the water table is rising as well. This means water is more easily available to a plant. The increased moist...

rocks and blue fescue - Johnsen Landscapes My upcoming book, The Spirit of Stone (published by St Lynn's Press) will be out in February, 2017 .  It looks at many ways you can use natural stone in the garden from artful accents and stone walks to sustainable dry creeks and rock gardens. One of the topics I address is the art of setting stones in a rock garden. I once lived in Japan (I worked in a landscape architecture office in Osaka) and so I feel a special connection to Japanese rock gardens.   In my work with placing rocks (often with large machines) I always listen to what the stone says. Sometimes, after a tough time placing a rock , I say that the stone does not want to be there and remove it.   I used to think that this conversation with a rock was my unique approach. But I was wrong.  I also said that the first rock to be set determined the rest of the rocks in the garden and so this was the most important. Again, this was an old rul...