EXPRESSING CREATIVITY: the Garden

[Cooperix]

Shoki,

We look forward to images as your garden grows? And what are raspberry salad greens? Sound delicious.
Jishin, I wondered when we'd hear from you! And such a wonderful west Texas, vast sky landscape/ garden! I especially enjoy the yard ornaments.

Horticultural therapy has been used for a couple of decades to help relieve stress, anxiety and help with focus. It is used in prisons and other places with high risk populations. With great success! A garden in all its beauty offers healing.
Here's an article I just came upon quoting from the late neurologist, Oliver Sachs essay 'The Healing Power of Gardens'.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/19/learning/what-role-does-nature-play-in-your-life.html?searchResultPosition=30

bows

Anne

~lahst~

[Shonin Risa Bear]

Wow, everyone. _()_ _()_ _()_

Ours was never a contemplation garden in the usual sense though we have often contemplated it.

1-DSCN1576.jpg

History thereof, in photos:

http://risashome.blogspot.com/2020/03/your-mileage-may-vary-ours-often-did.html

gassho
shonin sat today

[Shoki]

Meitou,
I love your cozy little space. I always liked small spaced gardens and yours is so inviting.

Gassho
ST/lah
James

[Doshin]

My garden.



Gassho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

You have captured the essence of the Great Plains. I love the long views. Are those Prairie Wolves?

Doshin
St

[Doshin]

Wow, everyone. _()_ _()_ _()_

Ours was never a contemplation garden in the usual sense though we have often contemplated it.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]6474[/ATTACH]

History thereof, in photos:

http://risashome.blogspot.com/2020/03/your-mileage-may-vary-ours-often-did.html

gassho
shonin sat today

Nice

Doshin
St

[Kotei]

Wow, thank you all for posting about your gardens.

Those wide views, Jishin... wow... Locally, I know them only from looking into the sky at night. :-)
Shonin, I enjoyed reading and viewing more about wonderful your place...

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Cooperix]

Beautiful Shonin!
I have to admit my favorite gardens are vegetable gardens. Rainbow Swiss chard! Russian red kale, daikon radish, cauliflower, perfect Cherokee purple tomato....on and on. Gorgeous. Thanks for letting us get a look at your garden and the history behind your garden. And straw mulch even! The thing I love about some Japanese gardens is how they incorporate the distant view as part of the garden. And there it is in your garden.

I grew up eating the vegetables my father grew in our hot Texas backyard gardens. So I have a bit of that I in my history as well.

Deep bows,
Anne

~lahst~

[Jishin]

You have captured the essence of the Great Plains. I love the long views. Are those Prairie Wolves?

Doshin
St

Hi Doshin,

That's the view from my rocking chair in my front porch. That's my 10 year old son's Aussie (not the one you met) and my German shepherd that I take with me to work everyday.

Gassho.

PS: I have seen Doshin's place in person and it is fantastic. Pictures do not do it justice

[Jishin]

A couple of apple and peach trees and a peach on the side of the house.

Gassho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

[Jishin]

Wonderful photos everyone!

Gassho, Jishin, __/stlah\__

[Meitou]

Lovely contributions to this thread everyone, thank you. And for the kind words about my postage stamp sized yard.
This might be pushing the subject to the limit, but it's such a beautiful article, not just for the words but for the illustrations too - and then, it is about trees, so that's my excuse.

https://emergencemagazine.org/story/woods-work/

Gassho
Meitou
sattoday lah

[Kotei]

(...)
This might be pushing the subject to the limit, but it's such a beautiful article, not just for the words but for the illustrations too - and then, it is about trees, so that's my excuse. (...)

Thank you. The landscape, my garden is a part of, once was a sandy hill, left by the last glacier period.
Some hundred years ago, the danish crown gave it to a local tradesman with the obligation to plant trees on it.
Now, we're living in a forest and maintenance of the old and young trees in different ways is done regularly all around an my obligation, too.
It is a never-ending story, convincing the authorities that this is not 'nature to be left on it's own', but 'culture that has to be cultivated'.
At least for my kind of garden and it's 'borrowed scenery (shakkei)', your article is spot on.

Me, yesterday, maintaining the form of one of the pines:

niwaki1.jpg niwaki2.jpg

Gassho,
Kotei sat/lah today.

[Cooperix]

YIKES! Kotei. Your pictures literally took my breathe away. Be most careful..

deep bow to a brave man,
Anne

~lahst~

[Jundo]

YIKES! Kotei. Your pictures literally took my breathe away. Be most careful..

deep bow to a brave man,
Anne

~lahst~

Yes, Yikes! Those are real Japanese gardening ladders. I have a real Japanese gardener here in real Japan for my real Japanese garden so I know. (Unlike Kotei, I do not feel competent to maintain the place more than trimming the bushes and pulling weeds. The gardener comes in with a small crew about 3 days a year to keep it healthy).

I once saw my old gardener (he retired) literally hop off the ladder and stand on top of a tree like that about 3 times as tall to trim the top, no safety belt. My newer gardener uses a bucket truck once every couple of years. Do be careful on that ladder.

If you come for a visit here, I will set you and him to work together! He studied in America, so speaks some English too.

I must confess that, despite the image, becoming a Zen teacher did not automatically make me an expert in Japanese gardening, fine calligraphy, pottery, tea and tea ceremony or Kung Fu.

Your gardens are all lovely. I do not have a pond ...

Gassho, Jundo

SatTodayLAH

PS- You can see a little of our garden from our outdoor sit a few weeks ago. The stone pagoda replaces a beautiful Japanese "matsu" black pine that had been shaped and formed over about 40 years, but had to be cut down soon after we came here because of a beetle that is killing them worldwide. It was a lesson in impermanence.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hngnLJ6nBHQ&feature=emb_logo

[Doshin]

A garden changes through time and by season. This photo is a snap shot of one portion of the garden. What struck me (and hence the photo) yesterday was the composition of species flowering at the same time. A view that is impermanent but a moment of changing beauty. Though the snapshot and the lighting do not capture what my eyes saw a few words here may help with what I saw. For a short time the Ocotillo, Desert Willow, Bird of Paradise, Paper Flowers and Prickly Pear Cactus are blooming. The one to note is the Prickly Pear Cactus which does not always bloom profusely...it depends on the timing and amount of winter rains. With the profuse bloom will come many fruits (tunas) which we harvest to make syrup and jelly. Our edible landscape But most will feed the wildlife later this summer especially the Javelina. Even the ones we boil down for the juice are then placed outside as an offering for all that share this land.

I believe I have always had a strong connection to the natural world. That connection has chosen my path in life, driven my passion to protect and restore it and where I find the most peace. It is where I find my “sitting” so profound. It has chosen where I travel and where I live and in a sense it has chosen my family since I was attracted to another who shares that sense of connection. On another thread we discussed beauty, As a biologist I can explain why things may have evolved and may be the way they are but as discussed that does not define beauty. I like what Anne shared..”Beauty Is” (I think I got the quote correct..if not that was my take home).


2A44D656-1B3B-4B51-AB46-7A262A1B8775.jpeg

Doshin
St

PS...after posting I realized the resizing tool I use to allow a phot to be shared here not only changed the quality but cropped out a significant part of the story I was sharing. Any technical advice on a tool to use in the future for posting photos is most welcome.