Serenity in the Garden

Are you feeling a little down? depressed? Well here is a way to fix that -  go out and plant something... Studies have found that an hour of gardening a day reduces the risk of heart disease and stroke and increases bone density more efficiently than aerobics or swimming! In fact, even looking at nature can result in a drop in blood pressure within five minutes and lower our stress hormones. One 16-year study in Australia revealed that those who did daily gardening even cut their risk of getting dementia in later life.    (Gardening boosts endorphins, the body’s good-mood chemicals. Personally, my theory is that we need the sunlight on our pineal gland and this can delay dementia, but I have no proof, its just a 'knowing') Here is a lovely story from  Timesonline United Kingdom,  dated March 27, 2010 "...Jane Robertson was earning a small fortune in the pressured world of derivatives markets when she had a breakdown at the age ...

Sometimes I find something that makes me so happy - I just read this post which was written several years ago by Kurt Fromherz in his Natureworks blog -  https://naturework.com/jan-johnsen-of-serenity-in-the-garden/ I never know how or if what I write reaches people..and now I know...Thank you so much Kurt Fromherz. Here is what he shared - I am so honored: This winter I made the trek up to snowbound Boston to see a woman speak that I have been following for many years. Jan Johnsen is a garden designer and writer. Her Serenity in the Garden blog caught my eye a long time ago and I fell in love with her posts. When I heard that she had published a new book, Heaven is a Garden, and would be speaking at New England Grows trade show the first week of February, I signed up. She was AMAZING! Her book is all about designing serene outdoor spaces for inspiration and reflection. I read it cover to cover the minute I returned home. I have to admit at times I was moved to tears...

Trees emanate a palpable energy. Stop next to a tree, be quiet, and you can feel it. In my book, Heaven is a Garden , I have a chapter titled, 'Calling on the Trees'. It touches upon the unsung aspects of our woody grand neighbors. Now, with the public's renewed focus on trees, I feel it is the right time to share a short excerpt from my book with you: "The Celts of ancient Europe believed that Nemetona, goddess of the grove, resided in the hushed atmosphere of forest glades. She could be found in a needle-covered pine forest, beneath a group of towering beech trees or in a sun-dappled birch grove. These woodland clearings were called nemetons and were seen as being awash with the enchanted energies of trees. Trees: Nature’s Recharger The Celts attributed the charged atmosphere of woodland clearings to shunnache, the life energy of trees. Interestingly, this ancient notion is similar to the invisible energy fields of modern physics, and Albert Einst...

milk carton gardening   Do you have simple summer garden memories?  I sure do.  And I hope the kids of today will have them too. I hope they remember the simple pleasure of growing carrots in milk cartons, tomatoes in large cans or maybe hollyhocks al ong old fences and lilacs at the corner of a house. We should reclaim these simple things as part of our ordinary life. Hollyhocks Honeysuckle Maybe you have some  memories like this:  It  might be the 'weed' that smelled like licorice ( anise hyssop), Blue Fortune Anise Hyssop The buttercups that you put under your chin,  buttercup reflection under chin - go here for more: Eat The Wee ds the honeysuckle that you could suck a teeny drop of 'honey' from, honey from honeysuckle - for more: Instructables  the sweet smell of roses as you walked past a certain house,  roses on trellis source: Nantucket today  the brigh...

In honor of my new book, The Spirit of Stone - 101 Practical and Creative Stonescaping Ideas for Your Garden  (St. Lynn's Press, 2017) that was released last week I am sharing this post about stone benches. Stone Bench - Dallas Arboretum - photo by Jan Johnsen Stone Bench by  Johnsen Landscapes & Pools In the heat of the summer when we should be pruning what we really want to do is sit in the cool shade and drink a tall glass of iced tea. Antique sandstone Bench from  English Garden Antiques Ah, a place to sit in the cool leafy shade!  What better contrast to the soft green lushness that surrounds you than a stone seat or bench, immutable, grounded and cool to the touch... sitting on stone outdoors grounds you and aligns you to the earth's electromagnetic pulse... It is like a calming sedative that you feel almost immediately. See some great stone benches at the  Stonepost  website Stone seats...

Otisville Correctional Facility - where I taught but it was not this nice looking back then In the 1970s, I was a part of a team that taught a one year intensive certificate program on Landscape Development and Maintenance at a community college near New Paltz, NY. I was a young instructor but was very earnest and devoted to teaching. Then one day the president of the college called me in and told me that I, alone, would be teaching all my courses at a men's correctional facility 44 miles away.  What??!! all my classes? away from the campus? in a prison? After much protesting, I was sent 'away' to teach the entire program at a men's prison. Well, as often happens, it was one of the best experiences in my life. I taught full time there for 2 years and still cherish the memories. Otisville Correctional Facility classroom  - but not my specific class I have a lot of fun stories. We installed walks, plant beds and even a solar greenhouse (it was donate...

Is gardening like writing? This is what Carl Lennertz of HarperCollins Publishing wrote in his blog  Publishing Insider : "....every 5 years or so, I get a truckload of topsoil dropped off so I can elevate a corner of the yard or start a new flower bed.  And it occurred to me, sleepily, that the sound of a shovel going into dirt is one of the most satisfying, tangible sounds, of all.  'shoosh' The shoosh of metal on dirt, then the creation of something new.  And then it hit me that writing was like that, too . The sound of writing, the sense of building something, measurable bit by bit, and most of all, the going back and reshaping and redoing. " Jan Johnsen - garden path I wholeheartedly agree! For me there is nothing more satisfying than physical creation: seeing a swimming pool and garden emerge from nothing more than a drawing. Or a Japanese stream evolve from orange paint lines on the ground. Or a delightful cascade de...

I am sitting here, drinking a lovely cup of  Tulsi tea , and I realized I should share tulsi with all...Tulsi tea provides a calming effect and its anti-stress properties are well known in India. Also known as the Queen of Herbs, it is the most important plant in the Hindu way of life. What is Tulsi (Holy Basil)? TULSI  (Ocimum sanctum), known as Holy Basil - is the sacred herb of India. ( Please note it is a different plant from the pesto variety of Basil, Ocimum basilicum.) It has been revered for over five thousand years as a  healing balm for body, mind and spirit . The leaves, flowers, fruits, root, branches and the main stem and everything about Tulsi is sacred in India; even the soil under the Tulsi plant is holy. ( Padmapurana 24/2) Tulsi  is indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. It is a bushy shrub about 18 inches high with oval and serrated leaves (the leaf colors range from light green to dark purple, dep...