Serenity in the Garden

  A gentle reminder to stop and enjoy a cup of tea. It's important and this explains why: The Foolishness of Things

Its 92 degrees outside. Sweltering. The air hangs like heavy drapes upon the landscape. There is no breeze. The garden quietly endures. So what can you do to lighten the oppressive atmosphere? ADD A BUBBLING URN -  a  recirculating water feature Japanese style bubbling urn by Jan Johnsen Why do this? Because the sound of water and its dynamic presence ( ask the great Dr. Emoto) add life and energy to a stultifying summer garden...  Bubbling urns and fountains bring sparkle to your garden. You can build a recirculating water fountain cheaply by buying parts in a hardware store or more expensively by going to a pond supplies vendor....I am not good at hardware so I buy kits. aquascape Bubbling Urns are set atop an underground reservoir that keeps re-circulating the water. Once the urn fills with water, the water spills over into the underground basin, which pumps the water back up through the urn. aquascape flavio website...

What blooms earlier than forsythia, has a delicate fragrance and is an easy-to-care for  compact delight ?  That is also hardy to USDA Zones 6-9 and native to Japan and Taiwan? Photo by Richie Steffen - Great Plant Picks Buttercup winterhazel    ( Corylops is pauciflora)   Toward mid April (depending where you live), the bare branches of buttercup winterhazel hang with inch-long clusters of soft yellow flowers that appear as little lanterns.   The fragrance is noticeable, making it perfect near a sitting spot.   It was awarded the  Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit (AGM) in 1993.  Missouri Botanical Garden photo Winterhazel is good in a small city garden or as a woodland underplanting in open shade.  It glows in front of evergreens and is a perfect pairing with purple   Rhododendron mucronulatum  since  they flower at the exact same time. And  winterhazels look wonder...

'Serenity in the Garden' is my way to gladden someone's day and to share my wonder at people' s creativity and Nature's beauty. Here are a few garden marvels: photo by Jan Johnsen  I worked in the gardens of Mohonk Mt. House (a hotel) decades ago. It is still one of my favorite places! In New Paltz, NY. I took this photo of their unique rustic gazebos that border Mohonk Lake.   "Much patience required. VERY steady hands, heartbeat, breathing, one’s entire being.. required." - Michael Grab (shown here with his creation).  http://www.gravityglue.com/   Do you know what is missing in this Zen inspired sand garden? a leaf - lying haphazadly atop the sand. ah, so. W hy not a 'poetry wall' garden? this is in Brooklyn, NY. Design by Terrain..  http://www.terrain-nyc.net/ photo by Jan Johnsen Look carefully - this is a photo on a banner affixed to a plain wall - makes it look like a real cascade! I took this photo in K...

alliums in the garden - Jan Johnsen   The idea that we are living within a world swirling with unseen energies is not new.  The Chinese idea of Tao comes closest to what mystics, tribal peoples and modern day physicists explain as the basis of all life.   The Tao, as Alan Watts writes, is not God “in the sense of ruler, monarch, commander, architect and maker of the universe,” but an “intelligent rhythm” (Watts, “Tao: the Watercourse Way” P 40): “The great Tao flows [also “floats” and “drifts”] everywhere To the left and to the right, All things depend upon it to exist, And it does not abandon them. To its accomplishments it lays no claim. It loves and nourishes all things, but does not lord it over them.             A flourishing garden spotlights this intelligent rhythm and is our everyday “repository of life …….with no claim to its accomplishments”.  Alan Watts uses a watercourse ...

Ivory Silk Tree Lilac photo from Arbor Hill Tree Nursery  Years ago I moved to Northern Vermont  (Montpelier) and worked as a landscape designer for a design / build firm there.  I soon discovered that my 'plant palette' was greatly altered due to the colder climate.  I had to learn about cold hardy plants - and fast. One of my favorite cold hardy discoveries that has remained a favorite of mine is the ornamental tree,    'Ivory Silk' Tree Lilac   ( Syringa reticulata "Ivory Silk"  ).   This small flowering tree, which grows no taller than 25 feet, was selected by Sheridan Nursery of Ontario, Canada in 1975 as a compact cultivar of Japanese Tree Lilac.  It needs full sun and is hardy to USDA Zone 3! I love 'Ivory Silk' because it flowers later than other flowering trees and has spectacular  creamy white, fragrant flowers borne in abundance in 6" - 12" lo...

glass wind chimes close up     Sound is an overlooked element in  landscape design .  When we think of sound in a garden we think of birds singing, leaves rustling or bees buzzing. Or we may think of wind chimes... Tim Cline Wind Chimes For some ideas we can look to ancient Japanese gardens where sound was a key consideration in the overall plan. Stone Path - Japanese Garden at Kykuit This is described beautifully in a text on the Japanese Garden at  Rockefeller's Kykuit  garden in Pocantico, NY written by Cynthia Bronson Altman: "... The hollow tones of the shishi-odoshi (lit. 'deer-scare') – a rhythmic knock of bamboo on rock – the splash of the waterfall into a deep pool, the rustle of breezes through the bamboo, mute the rush of the world today,  creating a space for contemplation and meditation, for a mindful walk...,  transporting one to another world, another reality." 'deer scare' - shishi od...

Kawase Hasui, 1937 In Japan, the short-lived cherry blossom signifies the fleeting beauty of Nature.  Cherry tree blossoms remind us that life is made up of singular moments.  Savor what is around you.

Red bridge in snow - a garden's  beauty in winter.

My blogoversary (a 'new word ') passed and I didn't notice... So in the spirit of belated celebration, I am reprinting one of the very first blog posts I wrote.  Two evenings ago, driving along a road in open farm country, I watched as the January full moon rose over a snowy landscape. The large white disc shining brightly in a liquid gray sky was spectacular! I now understand why animals howl at the moon - it must be a sympathetic show of appreciation and awe... The grandeur of the full moon made me reflect on moon gates, the traditional Chinese circular entryways that lead into contained gardens and cities. The rounded opening alludes to the full moon and the Chinese adage that says, 'Flowers are more beautiful when the moon is full.' Stepping through a round portal is symbolic of many things. Like our entrance into this world, it is an enveloping opening that calls to us to see what is on the other side. This sort of entry speaks to us of mystery ...

Japanese Bridge  No words...

 "I can see clearly now, that the rain is gone ...its gonna be a bright sunshiney day" ~ Johnny Nash Sugar Maple Leaves - The New York State Tree There is no more glorious time than a  sunshiney day  in Autumn in deciduous woodlands.  Native Dogwood (Cornus florida) against a native Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) The native trees in these forests put on their cloaks of color and literally take your breath away... I walk along public trails near my house and exult in Nature's show. Sleepy Hollow Maple Tree Sometimes I want to literally stop and applaud, crying   'BRAVO!'  to a particular tree or scene. Wouldn't that be wonderful if we had crowds of people standing in front of a particular colorful sugar maple on a street applauding?   That would be outstanding. In  Japan , there is something like that in their Autumn tradition of viewing the changing color of map...