Scenes from the garden

by aleks

SJG • 4/21/15 - fiery orange r. kaempheri lining up the path to waterfall

I was in the garden to catch a few pics to update  the Plant List blog and for the first time I was comfortable enough to look at the patterns in planting (the horticultural information is pretty intimidating for me, and for the last several years I was barely at the level of identifying singular plants and not much looking at the overall design).

SJG • 4/21/15 - r. 'Bouquet rose' on the bend, ''arnoldiana'on the wall in the north

in 1960 Juki Iida, the designer of our garden, was given over 160 rhododendrons from Arboretum to play with; he thought it was a bit too many, and at this time of the year, and 55 years later, I can understand his trouble:  the garden looks like a rhododendron park, and not really Japanese style garden. Still pretty though.

SJG • 4/21/15 - I take this pic of the benches under azaleas several times a year...

When we guide people around the garden we tell stories: some are about the concepts of Japanese garden, other stories are about the art and poems connected with it, and yet another about architectural gifts the garden carries.

SJG • 4/21/15 - the turtles don't care...  hey are just sunning themselves up

But sometimes it is OK to be silent and quiet about it; just look, be peaceful and part of it :).