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Thread: EXPRESSING CREATIVITY: the Garden

  1. #51
    Hello there,
    I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but have a problem getting images to open here. I size in Adobe but no matter how much I decrease the size
    it always says the file is too large. I will try to get some tuition from my son !

    Gassho,

    Jinyo

  2. #52
    We have a 15 acre patch of woods on which the previous owners planted many wonderful surprises in random places. We kind of let it roam and ramble for the most part, so it rarely looks manicured. But I know where I can find a patch of lily of the valley, a trillium, some wild herbs. I will post a few pics of what is coming up right now.



    A patch of oregano



    A grapevine budding near a flowering blueberry bush


    Some asparagus finding its way through the grass

    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  3. #53
    Quote Originally Posted by Cooperix View Post
    Thank you Jundo for taking us into your garden!
    I want to say again that I cannot take much credit for the garden, although I do generally trim the bushes (such as the ones in this picture). I also tend the big rocks, like the one shown ... which is easy, as big rocks are SUPER low maintenance.

    The actual credit goes to the Japanese gardeners who come a few days a year, and happened to be here today ... including this woman, Mrs. Ikeda (somewhere in the anti sun, virus and hornet clothes ... you know about our Japanese killer hornets!) who does all the fine pruning. She and her team should get the credit.


    delt weed blade 1.jpg

    What I do very well is swing this Japanese weed cutter (刈払機) in our back field, which is basically a naked saw blade on the end of a gas driven motor. It is kind of a weed slaughter, although I do bow and apologize to all the disturbed plants, worms and moles who might have been in the way. I can only imagine that the moles head deep underground at the loud sound the thing makes. Yes, perhaps it does not exhibit the delicacy of the work in the front garden, but it does take some artistry not to lose a foot.


    delt weed blade 2.jpg

    A Japanese "karibaraiki" in action!




    Gassho, J

    STlah
    Last edited by Jundo; 05-26-2020 at 07:43 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  4. #54
    Jundo,
    What a weapon! We have those harmless strings of monofillament line, not quite so dangerous. But less effective I suspect.
    and, Jakuden,
    Thanks for sharing your woodland gardens with us. I love the idea of hidden surprises. And 15 acres to wander in, lovely.


    In today's NYTimes...
    How to grow a garden anywhere...for those of you still wondering how to manage a garden.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/08/s...gtype=Homepage

    Bows
    Anne

    ~lahst~

  5. #55
    Jundo,
    That's a serious weapon of mass destruction. My favorite garden tool is the hori-hori also known as the Japanese farmer's weeder. It's just a simple steel blade and a wooden handle. But I find it the best for getting all kinds of stubborn weeds out.

    Gassho
    STlah
    James

  6. #56
    Wow - there's a lot of acres of garden/woodland between us. Land/gardens are at a premium in the UK so I consider myself very lucky to have
    even 2/3rds of an acre. I'd love more space though - very freeing to have meadows/woodland and water. All needs caring for though so with these old bones
    our smaller plot is quite enough to look after.



    Jinyo

  7. #57
    garden 4s.jpg

    garden-tl2.jpg

    arch2.jpg


    still can't figure more than postage stamp size

    Gassho

    Jinyo
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Jinyo; 05-27-2020 at 09:40 AM.

  8. #58
    Quote Originally Posted by Jinyo View Post
    still can't figure more than postage stamp size
    They get big when you click on them.

    Lovely views.

    Gassho, J

    STLah
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  9. #59
    Jinyo and all others....what wonderful places you have created. The creatures thank you!

    Doshin
    st
    Be Safe and Well

  10. #60
    These are all so lovely and refreshing to look at. Thank you! I guess I can share mine. I have a little room garden that sits on the window sill and, this past month, my brother set up an aquaponics herb garden in the back patio. It has been wonderful to just walk out and get fresh basil for a meal! I've found it really uplifting to care for these little plants.

    room garden.jpg

    aquaponicsgarden.jpg

    sat, lah
    Thank you for teaching me.

    I am very much a beginner and appreciate any words you may give me.

  11. #61
    Thank you Krissydear for posting. The tiniest of gardens can offer a place of respite.
    And Jinyo, a beautiful garden thank you for sharing it with us. Nothing like an English garden! I especially love the arch.

    gassho
    Anne

    ~st~

  12. #62
    krissydear....

    NIce. I know nothing of Auqaponic gardens but they look interesting!!

    Doshin
    st

  13. #63
    Jinyo, yes a beautiful and very English garden, a calming and restful space, and a lot of work too I imagine.
    Krissy dear, I'm so pleased you posted your small gardens, so much can be created on a table, window ledge or a balcony. We are currently enjoying fresh basil, rosemary lemon thyme, chives, and the real challenge - coriander, which is almost impossible here. And we're waiting for cherry tomatoes and French beans. All grown in pots in a tiny space.
    I don't know anything about aquaponic growing either,, maybe you could tell us a little more.
    Thank you everyone for bringing so many lovely gifts to this thread, allowing it to be a place of peace and reminding us of our interconnectedness with the earth and all growing/living things. Let it grow!
    Gassho
    Meitou
    Sattoday lah
    Meitou
    Sattoday lah
    命 Mei - life
    島 Tou - island

  14. #64

  15. #65
    I have to share one more photo with you folks, and especially with Kotai and his tiny little ladder.

    Today happened to be the day when, every couple of years, the gardener (Mr. Ikeda) and his team come in to do the big trees. That's him on the very top (no safety belts, by the way), and his apprentice on the ladder.

    I don't care, despite all the Zen training in the world, you are not getting me up there!


    Gassho, J

    STLah
    Last edited by Jundo; 06-08-2020 at 01:01 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  16. #66
    One more, a video of Mr. Ikeda's apprentice in the treetops which I filmed ... safely from the ground. Of course, the only "safety equipment" is his pair of split toed shoes worn by Japanese gardeners, roofers, high-rise carpenters and the like ...



    This is the real "Treeleaf" Zen, not what I teach. Seriously. You should all become Japanese gardeners!

    Please watch this whole dance right through, wide screen ...



    Gassho, J

    STLah
    Last edited by Jundo; 06-19-2020 at 12:42 AM.
    ALL OF LIFE IS OUR TEMPLE

  17. #67
    Quote Originally Posted by Doshin View Post
    krissydear....

    NIce. I know nothing of Auqaponic gardens but they look interesting!!

    Doshin
    st
    Thank you, Doshin, Anne, and Meitou!

    I didn't either until my brother, who is studying to be a park ranger and loves aquaculture/fishing/anything with water and aquatic animals, set it up for us. Basically, he said that the difference between hydroponics and aquaponics is the substrate that feeds the plants. In aquaponics, there are fish in the water, and their byproducts and whatnot nourish the plants. In hydroponics, there is another thing (I'm not sure what, another food) that is added to the water to help nourish the plants.

    Here's an updated picture with some of the herbs really flourishing.

    Gassho
    krissy
    Sat today

    IMG_6336.jpg
    Thank you for teaching me.

    I am very much a beginner and appreciate any words you may give me.

  18. #68
    Quote Originally Posted by Jundo View Post
    This is the real "Treeleaf" Zen, not what I teach. Seriously. You should all become Japanese gardeners!
    Thank you!
    Fascinating, watching these workers. When balancing high on the ladder and leaning out for pruning the pine candles,
    there is quite some concentration and calmness involved. Of course, days of pruning and weed picking involves some 'staying in the moment', too. Imho, it teaches you such a state of mind; it's a very unpleasant, exhausting work, when not experienced as such.

    Of course, I studied my Sakuteiki translation and it's comments. (said to be the first book about garden design and making from the 11th century).
    ... This kind of work [garden design and making], however, was not done professionally and there was no professional gardening class during the Heian period that would be the complement of the uekiya and niwashi of later years. By the mid to late Heian period there were also Buddhist priests involved in garden building, known collectively as ishitateso, literally stone-setting priests, though in fact the expression "stone-setting" was simply a euphemism for "garden making". Many of these priests, though not all of them, were associated with Ninnaji temple, and they may have been involved in both the design and construction of gardens, depending on their rank.
    I like those shoes, btw.. When working on the ladder, you quickly notice, that your lower shinbone hurts from bumping against the steps and you want to 'wrap' your big toe around the side of the ladder for additional hold.
    And I like that ladder, too. Mine has only the single leg adjustable in height and your's all three, which is much better on uneven ground.
    Agreed, your's is bigger .

    Oh, and real Zen masters don't need a ladder ;-)
    This is one of the guys, working once a year with the large trees. This photo was taken some 100m around the corner:
    csm_Mamutbaum6_e68d313473.jpg

    Gassho,
    Kotei sat/lah today.

    義道 冴庭 / Gidō Kotei.
    Being a novice priest doesn't mean my writing about the Dharma is more substantial than yours. Actually, it might well be the other way round.

  19. #69
    Hey! I like those shoes too! Maybe not for tree climbing though. A fashion statement in the art world, I assure you!

    Thanks everyone for your interesting and beautiful input into this thread. Keep the images coming as your gardens grow. (thanks Krissy!) Summer is almost here and gardens must be thriving.

    Here in the SW U.S. there is little rain this year and today we awoke to smoky skies. Somewhere nearby is a forest fire. Or maybe not so near, often fires raging in Arizona affect us here many hundreds of miles away. Fire season comes with the droughts.

    Again, if so moved keep us up with what's happening in your little gardening corner.

    Gassho
    Anne

    ~lahst~

  20. #70
    Ladders, don’t like them as much as I did.

    Krissy I am even more intrigued about adding fish!

    In addition to our native landscaping we have an edible portion of our place. It is beginning to feed us...and the Rock squirrel who gets to the ripe tomatoes first, the pollinator larvae that browse our greens, and the deer who helps with pruning.

    2EC2C72A-2267-46D7-8C88-415468D725E4.jpeg

    Doshin
    St
    Last edited by Doshin; 06-08-2020 at 10:49 PM.

  21. #71
    Ll7C766A22-D3AD-4ED8-9F3C-80C998EDE960.jpeg

    One area of the edible landscape that produced the cauliflower ..

    My wife gets all the credit.

    Doshin
    St

  22. #72
    Doshin,
    I do love an edible garden and such a beautiful cauliflower! Is that Spanish broom behind your wife? Ocotillo in bloom behind that? Desert in bloom. Thanks for posting and your wife for gardening the vegetables.

    I have been picking Russian red kale to make kale chips.

    red kale.jpg

    Gassho
    Anne
    ~lahst~

  23. #73
    Quote Originally Posted by Cooperix View Post
    Doshin,
    I do love an edible garden and such a beautiful cauliflower! Is that Spanish broom behind your wife? Ocotillo in bloom behind that? Desert in bloom. Thanks for posting and your wife for gardening the vegetables.

    I have been picking Russian red kale to make kale chips.

    red kale.jpg

    Gassho
    Anne
    ~lahst~

    The yellow flowers are a native called Paper Flower. They are long bloomers. Yes Ocotillo behind.

    Doahin
    St

  24. #74
    Thanks for the updates - love the pics of edibles.
    So we have created our first vegetable patch - it is very small but a start (usually just grow flowers).
    I've reclaimed the greenhouse which has been used as a model train depot the past few years - so growing tomatoes
    once more - love the smell of the leaves!
    Been busy in the garden which is getting a lot of loving attention during lockdown.
    Will try to post some pics.

    Happy gardening everyone,

    Jinyo

  25. #75
    I couldn't help posting this image of these dwarf sunflowers in their blue pot. They make me smile each time I look at them.
    Nice to have something so consistently to smile about!


    sunflower.jpg

    Gassho
    Anne

    ~lahst~

  26. #76
    My husband built an arbor for the grapevine! It looks so happy now!



    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  27. #77
    Jakuden,

    Nice arbor! Very nice. It will be so inviting when the vine offers an archway of grapes!
    Thanks for posting.

    Gassho
    Anne
    ~st~

  28. #78
    Quote Originally Posted by Jakuden View Post
    My husband built an arbor for the grapevine! It looks so happy now!



    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
    This is so lovely. It will become more and more beautiful as the vines start to wrap around it. I'd love to have something like that if I had space.

    Gassho
    krissy
    sat
    Thank you for teaching me.

    I am very much a beginner and appreciate any words you may give me.

  29. #79
    Hello all gardeners and otherwise!

    Please continue to update us on your gardens. As we head into the solstice the gardens must be coming into vibrant production, flowers and vegetables. Please do share. This thread will stay up and active.

    In the next day or so Meitou and I will post our next 'Expressing Creativity' post. So please stay tuned for that.

    Gassho
    Anne

    ~lahst~

  30. #80
    This is a Hoya Carnosa (Porcelain Flower, Wax Plant). It only flowers for about 3 or 4 days per year, for me anyway. (Impermanence!) The first couple of days it looks like this:

    EEAD1D50-B3B6-4E45-8F69-1AD483302B62_1_201_a.jpeg

    Then it turns to this;
    BBEB93F4-D92F-42C2-B2D0-DE299FBF1C3D_1_201_a.jpeg

    This plump pink one reminds me of some kind of candy. Although I won't eat it.

    Gassho
    STlah
    James

  31. #81
    Quote Originally Posted by Shoki View Post
    This is a Hoya Carnosa (Porcelain Flower, Wax Plant). It only flowers for about 3 or 4 days per year, for me anyway. (Impermanence!) The first couple of days it looks like this:

    EEAD1D50-B3B6-4E45-8F69-1AD483302B62_1_201_a.jpeg

    Then it turns to this;
    BBEB93F4-D92F-42C2-B2D0-DE299FBF1C3D_1_201_a.jpeg

    This plump pink one reminds me of some kind of candy. Although I won't eat it.

    Gassho
    STlah
    James
    I had one of these until last year, it's a fascinating plant, the flowers are not like any I've ever seen, as in James's photos, they start out looking as if made from wax, then transform into soft velvet. If any of you come across one, I'd recommend buying it for the fascination value alone.
    Again thanks everyone for continuing to post, I feel I'm getting to know people as much, if not more, through this thread as anywhere else on the forum. As Anne said, we'll shortly be posting a new topic but I'd like to see this one constantly updated as the year turns.
    Gassho
    Meitou
    Sattoday lah
    命 Mei - life
    島 Tou - island

  32. #82
    The vine is plumping up, but as the weather heats up, this can be a critical stage; will it survive the heat, the ants? Life is chance.

    IMG_18062020_095226_(800_x_600_pixel).jpg

    Gassho
    Meitou
    Sattoday lah
    PS I'm also posting by way of an experiment, as I've never been able to post directly from my phone as the images were too big. I've had to install a separate app to resize photos, why is that! I've yet to find a photo editing app with all the usual bells and whistles that also includes a resize function, annoying. If anyone knows of such an app, free, please let me know.
    Last edited by Meitou; 06-18-2020 at 08:01 AM. Reason: Predictive text bloopers
    命 Mei - life
    島 Tou - island

  33. #83
    Everything posted is a joy.

    In the edible portion of our landscape my wife always includes sunflowers for their beauty and eventually an offering to the birds. This year among the common sunflowers ( 6 to 8 ft height) were volunteers of Mexican Sunflowers which we may have planted 3 to 5 years ago and produced flowers. So some seeds dropped off and stayed dormant until this year

    0F22A1BF-8765-4E52-8D0C-73E6E6335925.jpeg

    Doshin
    St

  34. #84
    Quote Originally Posted by Doshin View Post
    Everything posted is a joy.

    In the edible portion of our landscape my wife always includes sunflowers for their beauty and eventually an offering to the birds. This year among the common sunflowers ( 6 to 8 ft height) were volunteers of Mexican Sunflowers which we may have planted 3 to 5 years ago and produced flowers. So some seeds dropped off and stayed dormant until this year

    0F22A1BF-8765-4E52-8D0C-73E6E6335925.jpeg

    Doshin
    St
    Thank you Doshin and Anne for the sunflowers - always such a joy

    Meitou
    sattoday lah
    命 Mei - life
    島 Tou - island

  35. #85
    James, Those amazing flowers look like decorations on a child's birthday cake, both phases. WOW! I cannot believe they are plant matter.

    And Doshin, I planted both the regular tall sunflowers, which have yet to bloom and the dwarf ones in pots (pictured). My garden this year has sunflowers and blue corn. I am growing both for their aesthetics, not food. Although I do have kale and lettuce, mustard and Swiss chard (which is being eaten by something before my eyes!). But sunflowers offer so much pleasant and joyful exuberance to a garden. And I love the Mexican sunflowers.

    And Meitou, you will have a lovely crop of grapes this year. beautiful.
    Gassho,
    Anne

    ~lahst~

  36. #86
    James, Those amazing flowers look like decorations on a child's birthday cake, both phases. WOW! I cannot believe they are plant matter.

    And Doshin, I planted both the regular tall sunflowers, which have yet to bloom and the dwarf ones in pots (pictured). My garden this year has sunflowers and blue corn. I am growing both for their aesthetics, not food. Although I do have kale and lettuce, mustard and Swiss chard (which is being eaten by something before my eyes!). But sunflowers offer so much pleasant and joyful exuberance to a garden. And I love the Mexican sunflowers.

    And Meitou, you will have a lovely crop of grapes this year. beautiful.
    Gassho,
    Anne

    ~lahst~

  37. #87
    Quote Originally Posted by Cooperix View Post
    James, Those amazing flowers look like decorations on a child's birthday cake, both phases. WOW! I cannot believe they are plant matter.

    And Doshin, I planted both the regular tall sunflowers, which have yet to bloom and the dwarf ones in pots (pictured). My garden this year has sunflowers and blue corn. I am growing both for their aesthetics, not food. Although I do have kale and lettuce, mustard and Swiss chard (which is being eaten by something before my eyes!). But sunflowers offer so much pleasant and joyful exuberance to a garden. And I love the Mexican sunflowers.

    And Meitou, you will have a lovely crop of grapes this year. beautiful.
    Gassho,
    Anne

    ~lahst~
    Yes that flower is pretty amazing. Again it only happens a for a few days. A work friend of mine brought it back as a cutting from Poland. I always called it the Polish Plant. There's an app called "PlantSnap" where if you take a picture of any plant it can show you a few candidates for what they think it is so you can identify it if you don't know what it is.

    I always grow Swiss Chard but couldn't find any this year. Sunflowers are always great I grow a similar perennial called a cupplant (silphium perfolium). In the aster family but it doesn't look anything like an aster. It grows over 10'/ 3m tall, big yellow flowers but I'm terribly allergic to the foliage.

    Below is one of four of my grape vines. The grapes are just starting. The grapes get a little better tasting each year but I usually feed the grapes to the birds and chipmunks. I just like the foliage. I just noticed some holes in the leaves as the pests are making themselves at home. Don't get me started on gardening. I'm definitely an obsessed nut case.

    4C6D88B7-274E-47DD-AB4B-C0E52FD6DD22_1_201_a.jpeg
    93942887-5EE2-4FB1-BA7A-CB368A26E3A1_1_201_a.jpeg

    Gassho
    STlah
    James

  38. #88
    The wax plant/porcelain flower is so cool!! It doesn’t even look real!




    The rambling old garden rose on our property that the people before us planted, the densely packed deep pink petals and the heady fragrance are an amazing work of art to me

    Gassho
    Jakuden
    SatToday


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

  39. #89
    Here in the northern hemisphere we are into summer. The saying goes 'knee high by the fourth of July' if you want corn by the fall. And this blue corn is chest high now! And starting to put our tassels. It is a heirloom variety of corn that a friend gave me from her crop last year.
    garden.JPG
    The kale is wonderful roasted until crisp with olive oil and sea salt and the purple lettuce nice eaten straight from the garden.
    Just an update on my garden here in the SW U.S.


    Gassho
    Anne

    ~lahst~

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