Autumn in the Japanese Garden

Autumn is fading fast on the US East coast as we head into Winter. Japanese gardens have a special beauty in all seasons because of the mix of natural features as well as plantings and architecture. I was looking around the web and wanted to capture a few pictures of the beauty of Autumn in the Japanese garden before it all disappears into the silver and white of Winter.

This beautiful shot was taken by Sarairachel in Capitol Hill, Seattle.        Sarairachel

So enviable...

maple-leaves

most glorious 

Contemplating death

~ Shiki ~

                                                               

Kimubert in Tenryuji, Arashiyama, Kyoto Japan

The winds that blow -

Ask them which leaf on the tree 

Will be next to go.

  ~ Kyoshi Takahama ~ 
                                      

Theothermonalisa at the Eastman house in Rochester, NY

                                           

Autumn wind
in Ise's shrine cemetery
even more lonely.
~ Matsuo Basho ~ 

 Nancy Qian

                                                                        

 

Creative Garden Paths

I love making creative use of whatever materials you have at hand. If you have shells, create using shells, if you have wood, use it. If you have rocks use rocks.  Here are a couple of beautiful pebble paths I'd love to have in a garden. The one above is courtesy of The Garden Balcony Company .

Here is a more formal swirl pattern pebble path through a patio. Also from The Garden Balcony Company. I don't really have a lot of pebbles in my local area, but I really like these.  You could even do concrete stepping stones with whatever you have on hand impressed into them in a pattern. I must create one of these in the Spring.

First Aid for Butterflies

We all admire the beauty of butterflies in the garden.  They bring colorful movement into the garden space, and help pollinate our garden flowers and plants.  It's a shame when we see an injured butterfly. Like most people, I've always assumed that butterflies are so fragile that you can't do anything to help a butterfly with a torn wing or other problem. 

But today I ran across this interesting article that explains how a butterfly's wing can be gently fixed so he can go on his way. It also explains how to revive a listless butterfly with a sugar solution.  I never would have thought of that!  These tips are from "The Family Butterfly Book" by Rick Mikula.  It has tips on how to raise butterflies, what plants to add to the garden to attract butterflies, even to raising butterflies as a business. Wouldn't that be a fun job!
Click the link below to read the entire article on butterfly first aid. 

First Aid For Butterflies  

Hostas Make the Shade Garden

When you plant a Japanese garden, it's not all that flashy, and it is probably at least partially planted in shade.  In my garden's case, it's almost all shade since it it is within the edge of an old wooded area. That means you need to find out what shade plants work in your area. That is a trial and error pursuit. Some plants that aren't supposed to work in shade, will acclimate themselves to a shady location over 2 or 3 years. Others won't ever be happy there and will die if you don't move them to a sunnier spot.

I have come to rely on a few shade plants as the backbone of the garden, and hostas are one of them. We have received a lot of rain this year so far, and the hostas are getting so big that they are crowding on top of others next to them.  This one above, which I think is called "Abiqua Moonbeam", wasn't that big last year but has boomed out to about 2 feet wide this year. Hostas are perennials, so you can collect them a few at a time and they will come back for you year after year. You can also divide them when they got too big, which I think I will be doing next year.
 
The chartreuse beauty here has always been the big daddy of the hostas in the garden, but this year it has also spread like crazy and is over 3 feet wide.  I have it placed on a curve in a walking path, and it covers the space you would usually fill with 2 or 3 plants.  It is called "Sum and Substance" and is one of my favorites.  The chartreuse color really brightens up the darker shade.  It also looks great against the dark mulch and slate lining the paths.  Hostas do need to be watered if you get a dry patch during the summer, but overall they are pretty hardy. They are also one of the best plants for medium to deep shade. There are hundreds of varieties, so you could actually plant a varied hosta garden using few other plants.  Try a few hostas in your shade garden and you will soon fall in love with them.

Brown Snakes are Friendly

I have seen a couple of brown garter snakes in the garden this Spring.  When I was growing up, I only saw green and black garter snakes, I didn't know they came in brown.  Since I have lived here in Virginia, I have seen a few copperheads, which are poisonous, brown, short, but fat and scary.  So I was a little skittish to take a piece of wood off the woodpile last week and see a skinny brown snake curled up trying to keep warm.  I just gently put the piece of wood back on top of him.  I am not a "snake-picker-upper' of any snake, but they are welcome in the garden if they are not a danger to us.  I mean, I don't want to be fiddling with a plant and be in fear of getting bitten by a poisonous snake. This isn't the desert!

Anyway, I looked up these brown snakes and found that they are friendly, they eat slugs, which we need because slugs chew holes in the hostas at night. So, they are welcome.  I did get the chance to pick one up yesterday when I saw my cat, Zippy, in the yard occupied with something. Upon further investigation, he had a baby brown garter snake about 8 inches long, which was scared to death and probably anticipating his demise.  I shooed Zippy off and picked up the snake, which curled up in my hand.  He was pretty nice, no threat, cold, not slimy or anything.  I let him out under a hosta 30 yards away.  Nice fellow.  They are cool but unfortunately cats are fascinated by them. Time to have a talk with the cats....again.

Japanese Garden Haiku

A WHITE SWAN SWIMMING
PARTING WITH HER 
UNMOVED BREAST
CHERRY-PETALED POND
                       ~Roka

MY SHADOWY PATH
I'VE SWEPT ALL DAY
AND NOW...OH NO!
CAMELLIA-SHOWER!
                     ~Yaha

DEAD MY OLD FINE HOPES 
AND DRY MY DREAMING
BUT STILL...
IRIS, BLUE EACH SPRING
                      ~Shushiri













Images: Flickr Creative Commons
Haiku: Public Domain, at Sacred-texts.com

The Beauty of Japanese Gardens

Well, we are still digging out after the multiple snowfalls that came through over the last month, but there's been entirely too many snowy pictures posted here for my liking. I started researching Japanese Gardens online to relieve my cabin fever and maybe get some ideas for the garden this Spring. I collected up some of the pictures I found and posted them in an article The Beauty of Japanese Gardens.  There are pictures of Japanese gardens all around the world. 
 
I have several sections completed in the garden.  It is sort of broken up into separate rooms, and I've worked on completeing a room or two each year. It's getting to look like a whole now. Last year we had some big Summer storms that trashed some sections, but it made us rework some things that look better now.  I know this Spring I will be finishing a bridge I started last year.  I also need to do a small rock garden on a hillside.  Not sure what thats going to turn out like, but I'll need to be rock-hunting again.

So anyway, it's just computer research time. Take a look at the other article if you like, Maybe it'll be what you need to start thinking about garden season too.

The Beauty of Japanese Gardens

Japanese Garden under Snow

 More snow this weekend, another 6 inches.  We had a bit of a mid-Winter thaw last week, and the daffodils started peeking up in anticipation of Spring.  Not to be, the thermometer is going back below freezing for a few days, with a chance of more snow later in the week.  Quite a contrast from early last Summer as you can see here.












Zippy doesn't seem to be too terribly troubled by the snow.  He is a Turkish Van cat, descended from ancestors in the mountains of eastern Turkey.  He has a thick coat and seems to finally be enjoying that he can blend into nature instead of standing out like an albino when he stalks butterflies and insects. Here he is just entering the garden next to a metal lantern we have there. He looks a little chilled here, but believe me he can plow through snow up to his belly.

 

Don't forget to put some food out for the full-time residents of the garden too, they need a little help for the next few weeks until the sun starts getting closer to the Northern Hemisphere again where it can actually produce some heat. 

A Visit to Morikami Japanese Gardens

There is a cold rain falling outside my window today, with occasional pellets of sleet mixed in. What better time to remember a visit we made last year to Morikami Japanese Gardens in Florida? If you find yourself traveling though South Florida, you should take a half day to visit this beautiful place.

Morikami gardens have only been open since 1977. The garden is located in Delray Beach, about a half-hour drive from Fort Lauderdale. The garden actually consists of a series of six gardens, each inspired by a different cultural period and type of garden. All flow together seamlessly around a central lake. The gardens are all beautiful, and I found myself clicking lots of photos for ideas I could use at home.  Of course, I'm jealous of all the semi-tropical plants that grow seemingly effortlessly in the Florida environment. I was that way the first time I visited Disney World too, the landscaping just knocked me over.

You can spend a couple of hours strolling around the lake enjoying the garden. Morikami also has a Japanese Art Musem to visit.  There's a nice little gift shop with some great remembrances to take with you as well. You can order online if you see something you really like. I haven't seen many Japanese gardens in the US, especially on this scale. Morikami is a wonderful hidden gem.  If you have time, it's definitely worth checking out. Enjoy!



For further information, go to Morikami.org.

Rocks speak to me

Well, what can I say, that's the way it is. I came across this photo online and there's so much I like about it, mainly the colors. I'm all about muted colors in earth tones. I like the look of a natural plaster wall or a log cabin on a fieldstone foundation. I was taken on a clothes-shopping excursion over the holidays, (that's another story) and a saleswoman was matching up shirts and ties for my approval. She felt that a light-colored shirt needed an explosion of color in the tie. After a while my crossed arms, shifting feet and "mmm, maybe" responses led her to give up on me. I actually prefer the colors that you'd do a Craftsman style house in: olive green, beige, brown, grey, plum, light green and weathered wood. And throw some bronze in there for good measure. I actually did paint a room in that paint scheme years ago. The colors I found were Buffalo Sage with Chocolate Brown for the trim. Anything painted Buffalo Sage you know has to turn out looking good.

As far as the garden goes, my natural area has very few stones, so I've imported all of them from elsewhere, usually from clearings for developments or flipping them end over end through a woods somewhere and then figuring out a way to get them up into my truck. The ones I've gotten have given a lot of good structure to the garden space. Just looking at glossy pictures of Japanese gardens in books has given me good ideas that I've then been able to implement section by section throughout the garden. Where I have a space, I usually have an idea what might work there plant-and stone-wise. They say that master Japanese gardeners choose each stone very carefully for the garden space. It must lend a natural look to the garden and be correct for the effect they are trying to create. I do the same, but if I see a nice big rock, more likely than not I'll get it and ponder on it for a while in the garden until the right spot for it is revealed.

The Garden in Winter

Well, it's that time. The snow is deep, the soil is frozen, the garden sleeps. It's the new year, the Christmas tree and the yule greenery are taken down, and we need a touch of Spring to look forward to gardening again. If you're like me, you have a few plants wintering over under grow lights that you can visit with. Your house plants are enduring low light and excessive dryness of the heated indoors. But don't despair. Soon the seed catalogs will begin arriving, with their full-color photos of red tomatoes and towering bouganvilleas. Ahhh, that helps dispel the Winter chill. Winter is the time to start planning out what changes you want to make in the garden. Do you need to rotate any plants around? Did something not work where you had it? Is there a new section you want to fill out this year? A cold day is a good time to plan out what new plants you need for the garden. If you are starting anything from seed, this is also a good time to start assembling your order.

To really get into the gardening spirit, try attending a big Home and Garden show. If you've never been to one, they are great fun and a good source of inspiration. The best part is, they are only a matter of weeks away! The Philadelphia Flower Show is at the end of February. In my area, the Capital Home and Garden Show is in February also. Go to TSNN.com and select Home and Garden from the drop-down Search box, and you'll get pages of upcoming shows. You can also check the Weekend section in your local paper or just google Garden show or Home show in your area. Ahhhh, can't you feel that Spring thaw already?

Garden Gates

The garden is undergoing a deluge this week. I hope it doesn't make everything too leggy. We are nearing real Summer where the heat should arrive too. Some very cool nights in May kept the mosquito population down noticeably. I'm hoping this rain doesn't bring them all back. Just need a night or two in the low 40's with low humidity. Come on, nature!

Ha Ha. The garden is an evolution. I have ten separate "rooms" in the garden, and seven of the 10 are basically complete, other than maintenance. Last year I built three Japanese-looking garden gates to help enclose the space and give it more structure than just planted patches in the woods. The main entry gate was created from wood left over from a kid's fort I tore down. It's a fairly simple project that I explained in a short article at Ehow.com. How to Make a Japanese Garden Gate in a Weekend. The pics in the article were taken in February, but it looks much better now that things are more grown in. A better photo is this one taken in early May. The gate is large but the size gives it presence and gives the feel that you are entering into a defferent space. I worked out the design by referring to several Japanese gardening sites and books. The idea was to keep it understated and rustic-looking to match the wooded nature of the garden.

My Other Half

Besides working on my garden, I am a treasure hunter. Antiques, sweepstaking, and just plain finding treasure either laying on the ground or buried under it. Little by little, I've filled a few treasure chests over the years with piles of coins, boxes of gold rings, and assorted sweepstakes wins, including several grand prizes. Visit my other blog at The Suburban Treasure Hunter to see how my quest is going.

More Spring Scenes

I wanted to get a shot of my bleeding hearts before they left for the season, almost missed them! I was able to get this one with fading azaleas in the background, had to turn off the flash to be able to capture it. In addition to scrounging for my rocks, I always keep an eye out for any other asian things that can be used in the garden. I was lucky enough last year to be able to get this concrete lantern at an estate sale. It was buried in overgrown bushes in the back yard, and the owners didn't even have it for sale. But I made an offer and got it pretty cheaply. Now it has a place of honor in a garden where it can be appreciated.

Simple Stonework

In order to give the garden some structure, I required some rocks, which I don't really have on site. The rocks in the garden have resulted from from an early effort to rescue an eroding hillside, then to help define the individual sections of the space, and finally as focal points. In a Japanese garden, they counterbalance the soft foliage, provide structure and represent natural elements such as mountains in the distance. As everything else in this project, the collection and placement of stones is an ongoing effort. I hope that the ones that are required for a particular space will appear when needed.

Here is one simple stone focal point I created from a big triangular rock I positioned at the divergence of 2 paths. A few white river stones give it an asian temple-like feel, but it's just something I made up. It fits the garden nicely though, and pulls you down the path.

The Garden in May

The garden is close to Spring peak now. We had a great azalea bloom this year, and with a lot of rain, the hostas are bigger than ever. I have a chartreuse Sum and Substance that is one of my faves, and it must be about 3 feet across this year. We have filled a lot of holes, and several sections are basically done, I am moving over to the right side now to work on a couple of sections there during this season. I'll try to show some before and after as it goes.

Woodland Things

Well I've got a lot of varied interests, and one that I've followed over the years is an interest in shade gardening and japanese gardening. They kind of go together, at least for me, because my gardening space is very wooded. So I've had to learn about what will grow in shade, especially the dreaded Dry Shade. So far in 2009, it's looking pretty good, but there is always work to be done. I'll try to share as it goes.