* THE TURTLE AND THE BUDDHA – Photos Of Sculpture In The Garden

* Summer has arrived! Come take a photo tour of the sculptural art in our garden. You will meet Buddha, a turtle, the sun, a girl angel, a pink dragonfly, many plants and more. We also give a big shout out to the loving creator of this magic garden, Aireen’s mother Ting.*

 

THE HOT POTATO
Serving Up a Weekly Helping of
Sustainable & Organic Gardening, Food, Health, and Community

by Adam Brockman & Aireen Joven, July 2007, # 23

THIS WEEK’S DISH -

THE TURTLE AND THE BUDDHA – Photos Of Sculpture In The Garden

 

“In his garden every man may be his own artist without apology or explanation. Each within his green enclosure is a creator, and no two shall reach the same conclusion; nor shall we, any more than other creative workers, be ever wholly satisfied with our accomplishment. Ever a season ahead of us floats the vision of perfection and herein lies its perennial charm.”

- Louise Beebe Wilder, Classic American Garden Writer

 

SUMMER SOLSTICE has now passed and the amount of time the garden has to bask in sunlight is slowly decreasing. The days are getting shorter and the temperatures hotter. Planet Earth, in its cosmic rotations around the sun, is now moving day by day further away from the sun – steadily closer to the Fall Equinox when the amount of daylight and night hours will be equal. Next will come Winter Solstice, when we experience the longest night and shortest day of the year, just in time for the bright cheers of the holidays. Then, as growers busy themselves with planting seeds, Spring Equinox arrives, when the day and night are in balance again. Then back to the height of summer in late June, and so on.

Last week’s full moon brought more growing opportunities for the plants, whose maturing leaves were happy to soak in the bright, gentle moonlight. Interestingly, plants do much of their growing at night. It reminds me of a child going through adolescence, who wakes up in the morning and appears to have grown a couple inches “overnight”. This is why some gardeners plant and transplant in tune with the cycles of the moon. We haven’t tried this yet in our garden, but we look forward to taking advantage of the moon’s light and gravitational influences, and developing that kind of awareness as we plant in the future. An even more dramatic growth spurt often happens after a heavy rain, as we just saw today after last night’s thunderous downpour. Summer has truly arrived, because the basil is going strong, and the pesto we make out of it is, mmm, delicious! The countdown to a juicy brandywine tomato and basil sandwich has begun.

For this week’s dish, we devote space to the fun, whimsical, and even mystical sculptures in various corners of our garden, waiting to delight anyone who happens past them. All of the sculptures and their placement were chosen by Aireen’s mother Ting, who has been nurturing this beautiful garden for over nine years now! Thank you for co-creating and caring for such a cozy, beautiful, and magical garden, Mom!!! Your touch can spring up sweet-scented flowers with barely an effort, and your heart is a loving garden blooming with dreams that come true. This magic garden has welcomed, inspired, and fed dozens of visitors for so many seasons, including all the plants and wild flowers who voluntarily return and multiply each garden season, year after year. We can see why they like it here so much. Until next week, The Hot Potato is in our hands. Let’s pass it on!

Water Fountain And Container Garden
Beside the pebbled path to the front door, plants like petunia, celosia, and ivy planted in containers of differing heights draw your eye towards the front step. Old bricks and red rocks, which were scattered about when we first moved to the house and are now intentionally placed, decorate the space. An old watering can with holes poked in the bottom is used as a planter, and the soothing gurgles of the water fountain add sound to the landscape along with the neighborhood birds. In the back, a white cherub lights the way with a lantern beside the purple-flowering hostas and clematis vining up the corner of the brick walls. Even the spiders make themselves cozy, spinning country-style cobwebs between the birdhouses on the window sill, the cool green one on the left painted by Aireen’s mother.

 

Sun And Water Fountain
A smiling orange sun contently sits on top of the water fountain at the front of the house. Besides just looking happy, the sun also controls the pressure of the water shooting out of the fountain. The smiling sun used to be the top of a garden ornament until it broke off the base. Now it has found a new place in the garden. Aireen’s mother snipped some trailing plants that were growing as a natural ground cover inbetween stepping stones, and stuck them in the water of the water fountain. They seem to be doing just fine there, and create a romantic look hanging off the edge of the top of the fountain.

Turtle In The Water Fountain
Doesn’t this turtle just make you want to smile? Yes, he’s made out of plastic, but he looks so cute hanging out in the cool pool and cascading drops of the water fountain. I also like the sculptural detail on the fountain behind the turtle, a single leaf molded onto the fountain. Mr. Turtle reminds me of the amazing miracle we witnessed last year as farm interns. Just after planting over 1,500 heirloom tomato plants, we saw a big mama snapping turtle bury her eggs in between two tomato plants. Much later in the season, as we were harvesting the very last tomatoes of the year, the baby turtles were finally born and had started making their way in our big world! Their blinking eyes peered out from under the dried mud that totally covered their little bodies. The baby snappers were so tiny; they were only about the size of a thumbnail.

Zen Rocks And Waffle Pot
Beside the flowering containers near the front door, three smooth stones add a simple minimalist element, like in a Japanese Zen Garden. One larger stone. Two small ones. Three different shades – bone white, pale grey, and soft brown. The stones are stacked with the larger one on the bottom, creating a feeling of being grounded with a strong foundation. For a simple background pattern, a clay flower pot is placed behind the centered stones. The pot’s design reminds me of a giant waffle cone sprinkled with powdered sugar.

Buddha With Sedum, Iris, And Clematis
Continuing the Asian theme, a peaceful statue of Buddha with open hands in traditional mudra poses welcomes visitors at the end of the path leading to the front door. Swooping, curved patterns of the sculpture’s hanging drapes create a repetitive movement that contrasts with the diverse shapes of the garden’s plants. In front of the Buddha are sedums, a succulent stonecrop plant with purple-pink flowers in the fall that resemble broccoli heads. Sedum makes an excellent, easy-to-grow border plant that originates, fittingly, from Japan. To the sides are iris leaves shaped like the strokes of a calligraphy painter, and behind the Buddha, vining up the brick column, is more clematis.

Heart Swans
Two plastic swans, which double as planters, touch heads to create a framed heart shape that can even be seen from the road passing by the front yard. Behind the swans is a wood lattice painted white. It is supported by two metal poles hammered into the ground, which are attached to the lattice with strong ties. In front of the lattice, a rusty antique bird feeder looks like a mini umbrella towering over the last of the daisies. Further back, a rusty antique watering pump sits atop a pile of faded red bricks.

Ting And Antique Water Pump
Here is a closeup view of the rusty antique water pump sitting atop worn bricks that are reminiscent of a mini well. Behind the pump, the garden’s creator (Aireen’s mother, Ting) works on pulling overgrown plants to allow more sun to reach the green bean plants vining up one of the three lattices. There is a rule in art that it is more interesting and dynamic to work with odd numbers rather than evens. Instead of following rules when designing a garden though, it seems that going with the flow of intuition and what feels good ends up creating a masterpiece one could have never planned beforehand.

Bunny And Quinoa
Our friend, the local baby bunny found lots of nutritious meals in our garden this spring, including rose leaves (which are supposed to be very nutritious), tree collards, and the newly transplanted quinoa. Quinoa is an ancient grain, but not a grass like rye and wheat. Quinoa is also a complete protein, so easy to cook, very nutritious, and tasty – for humans and bunnies. To make sure we don’t forget how much we love bunnies despite their appetites, Aireen’s mother moved the plastic bunny sculpture into the quinoa bed as an ironic and funny homage to the bunny. Or were we trying to scare the bunny away with one of it’s own kind? Well, that didn’t work, but it’s still a cute sculpture next to the still small quinoa.

Dragonfly Clip And Borage
When Aireen’s cousin was just a toddler, she excitedly noticed this pink dragonfly clip, at the time attached to the stem of a house plant in the corner of the living room. The plastic and metal dragonfly has since changed habitats and now clings to the hairy stem of a potted borage plant with beautiful blue-indigo flowers and prickly cucumber-like leaves, both of which are edible. In bloom in the background are blurry orange nasturtiums.

Angel And Citrus Plant
This intricate sculpture was so secretly tucked away. We didn’t take notice of the ponderous angel girl, with blowing tendrils, angel wings, and flower blossoms, until setting about to photograph all the sculptures in the garden. She is hung on the window frame of the garage, which borders the back porch sitting area, and is hiding behind three house plants outdoors for the summer, including an Asian citrus plant that bears little orange fruit with a sour-bitter taste. Beneath the angel’s folded arms is a frilly dish that catches a small pool of water when it rains, big enough for only fairies and other garden inhabitants that move about so lightly that they are almost never seen by the garden’s caretakers, unless one is paying attention at just the right moment.