Brunnera beauty

Just because it is spring, and I love brunnera.

Yum...

Photos of ideas 3: Happy topiary

I apologize for the truly wretched quality of this picture, but I can't resist sharing it:

Do you see the little topiary bear, his arms raised as if he's jumping for joy, tucked back in the middle of all the other shrubs? This is a picture of the growing field of a nursery in Japan that sells shrubs, most of which have been sculpted into some shape or the other. I love this particular image because it reminds me to be a little fun and silly in the garden. Too often I get so obsessed with creating the "perfect" design I forget to be a little goofy. I need to tuck more joyous bears in my garden this year.

Photos of ideas 2: Rainlilies

This is a picture of yard of a house I walked past in Shikoku, Japan while visiting my friend Reiko's family:

Like so many Japanese gardens, this one is full of graceful, understated beauty. The rain lilies (Zephyranthes) dotted randomly in the grass, the simple stepping stones... I love it. This photo inspires me to rethink my "lawn" areas. I've never been a big lawn person, but this is the sort of lawn I do like -- simple green background to randomly dot flowers in. But how do you do that practically? What about mowing? I'm not sure how they manage it in this yard, but I'm trying to make a space for this sort of look by replacing part of my grass with moss. I'm also considering replacing my grass in sunnier areas with a dwarf blue grass, or maybe short "no mow" fine fescue both from High Country Gardens. Without the need for mowing, I could mix all sorts of bulbs and small perennials into my lawn...

Photos of ideas

A lot of the pictures I take are of ideas: Bits of design, combinations of plants -- cool stuff I want to remember to play with in my own garden. And half the time I never go back to those pictures and actually DO anything with them. Blogging projects are always a good way to make me actually do something I've long been thinking about, so I'm going to do a series of posts with photos that represent some cool gardening idea to me.

 To start off: This image I took in the summer of 2005 when I was working as an intern at a nursery in Saitama, Japan.

 (Do click on the image to view it full size -- it is better that way)
This garden is in front of a small, neighborhood shrine, and perfectly creates the quiet, restful, sacred atmosphere appropriate for this space. If I was gardening this space, I think I would be tempted to throw in variegated foliage, or a few slashes or flowers -- but the restrained colors really work, and play up the gorgeous contrasts in texture. And the stone trough it just about perfect -- again, simple, but not boring. Just enough decoration, the color nicely matching the stones set around it. As you can only sort of see in this picture, it is filled with still water, which I love. No trickling waterfall or fountain -- just placid water.

Best of all, like so many Japanese gardens, this one is tiny, and so could easily translate to the smallest yard. I want to create a small, peaceful, sacred nook like this in my garden. I just need to figure out where.