Serenity in the Garden

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...

If you are like me, you may have a pile of empty terra cotta pots of all sizes sitting in a pile somewhere. What to do with them?  throw them out? give them away? Paint them up? Here's an idea - use them to make music !   These photos are from the Central Texas Gardeners Blog (CTGB - check out this great blog) Terra cotta pots of varying sizes hang upside down from a sturdy board. You hit them with a drumstick which has one end wrapped in yarn. Each pot makes a different sound.   This reminds me of the time my mother, studying at Cooper Union as an art student, created a homemade 'musical intrument' in our living room. Part of it consisted of cans hanging upside down and I would, as a child, bang away on them for hours.....I think terra cotta makes a better sound. This is the drumstick (Courtesy CTGB) In addition, you can use the grass clippers (open close, open close) to add another percussive sound: ...

Om Stone in one of my landscapes- Jan We need to balance the pace and intensity of modern life with periods of what poet May Sarton has called " open time , with no obligations except toward the inner world and what is going on there." ~ Thomas Moore So how to touch the inner world in a garden ?.. I suggest chanting 'OM.' or really 'AUM'. , long and sustained, several times... “Om” is the oldest and most widely known one syllable mantra or chant.    It is said very, very slowly.   The Sanskrit symbol above represents “OM”. It does not say '30' as some might assume.   Look for this - click here: Wall Decal - OM     Though commonly spelled “Om.”, the sound is really 'Ahhooom" and the symbol consists of these three letters, “a,” “u,” and “m,” and includes an after-sound of silence : • The “a” (pronounced "ah," the upper curve) represents our waking state. • The “u” (pronounced "ooh,"...