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| 10/18/2015 |
The faded flowers wouldn’t allow me to put their photo on Facebook unless I promise to also show them when they’re still blooming in full blossom.
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| 10/18/2015 |
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| 10/18/2015 |
Showing posts with label garden 2015. Show all posts
Showing posts with label garden 2015. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
No Last Rose of Summer in our garden: they charm us well beyond the summer
The faded flowers wouldn’t allow me to put their photo on Facebook unless I promise to also show them when they’re still blooming in full blossom.
Tuesday, October 20, 2015
The flowers watched the tilting sighingly in silence (感傷歎息)
A few days ago we’re tilting, which is part of the clean-up
job at the end of the gardening. The
nearby flowers, mostly zinnia, marigold and Sylvia, watched sighingly in
silence (感傷歎息) for their days remained which were not many.
Speaking of 感傷歎息 which means “sigh in a lamenting way”. I am reading “A Dream of Red Chamber (紅樓夢)” in Chinese and in English and noticed in one sentence the 感傷歎息 was translated as “very upset”, which, in my view, was not the best choice of word. “Upset” is emotionally disturbed; more of agitating or angry, than lament and sigh.
Speaking of 感傷歎息 which means “sigh in a lamenting way”. I am reading “A Dream of Red Chamber (紅樓夢)” in Chinese and in English and noticed in one sentence the 感傷歎息 was translated as “very upset”, which, in my view, was not the best choice of word. “Upset” is emotionally disturbed; more of agitating or angry, than lament and sigh.
我將緣故回明, 那太爺感傷歎息了一回。
He seemed very upset when I explained all that had happened.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015
How to make a long lasting garden?
These photos of our garden were taken yesterday (October 6)—a birthday
of one of our loved ones. If we couldn’t
deliver the flowers, we at least transmit the photos of them. They certainly do not look like they’re on
their way out.
To maintain a garden this size, one needs flowers, lots of them; so all the flowers can paint our garden with delight (paraphrasing from a song of Spring in Love’s Labour’s Lost). They should be long lasting; this is one of the criteria in choosing the flowers. A good friend of us told me the Chinese name of zinnia is 百日草, which means they will bloom for 100 days.
As I have said zinnia led me to Emily Dickinson, or the other way around, I no longer remember. It doesn’t matter.
Roses have seen their best days, but they are not the last rose of the summer yet.
How long do the vivacious canna blooms last? Many weeks, but
not 100 days. So I planted the canna
over a period of 5 or 6 weeks; the early bloom has long faded, some are
blooming and beaming with the bright red color now; some haven’t even bloomed
yet. This is why some of the celosia
are still “burning with dazzling flame” while most have lost their luster.
Some like it hot, especially the luffa, warm and hot days are conducive for luffa growth; we no longer have that luxury. These luffas are like teenager girls, anxious to grow and mature, before the first frost comes. Like Thomas Jefferson who recorded the date of the first fall frost each year in his garden Journal, we are watching the first frost with a vigilant eye.
This is another poem by our good friend. If our garden can bring forth all these beautiful poems from our friends, the beauty of our garden must be aesthetic and exquisite.
To maintain a garden this size, one needs flowers, lots of them; so all the flowers can paint our garden with delight (paraphrasing from a song of Spring in Love’s Labour’s Lost). They should be long lasting; this is one of the criteria in choosing the flowers. A good friend of us told me the Chinese name of zinnia is 百日草, which means they will bloom for 100 days.
As I have said zinnia led me to Emily Dickinson, or the other way around, I no longer remember. It doesn’t matter.
Roses have seen their best days, but they are not the last rose of the summer yet.
Some like it hot, especially the luffa, warm and hot days are conducive for luffa growth; we no longer have that luxury. These luffas are like teenager girls, anxious to grow and mature, before the first frost comes. Like Thomas Jefferson who recorded the date of the first fall frost each year in his garden Journal, we are watching the first frost with a vigilant eye.
A comment from a good friend (see photo below),
只見一張空椅子，沒有主人，故作一首打油詩，為其抱屈。
問君何處桃源(花園，或絲瓜園)可避暑，
空有涼椅等君半夜回。
This is another poem by our good friend. If our garden can bring forth all these beautiful poems from our friends, the beauty of our garden must be aesthetic and exquisite.
蔡家花園
誰家花園百花開？
引得蜂蝶過牆來，
閒坐書生瓜棚下，
又吟又飲且開懷。
Tsai's Garden
Who's garden with hundreds of flowers still blooming?
Drawing the bees and butterflies fence crossing ,
A reader leisurely sitting under the squash awning,
Heartily enjoying by reading and drinking.
誰家花園百花開？
引得蜂蝶過牆來，
閒坐書生瓜棚下，
又吟又飲且開懷。
Tsai's Garden
Who's garden with hundreds of flowers still blooming?
Drawing the bees and butterflies fence crossing ,
A reader leisurely sitting under the squash awning,
Heartily enjoying by reading and drinking.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015
A garden in the rain
It rained all day yesterday; drizzling, no down pouring;
overcast and gloomy. One friend emailed
saying he “覺得有點落寞”
with rain, another friend, “悶悶不樂”. I felt even worse; miserable, weary, dull and
flat.
Both Milton and Shakespeare used “flat and weary” to describe depression.
My hopes all flat: Nature within me seems
In all her functions weary of herself;
- Milton
“How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable”, uttered by depressed Hamlet.
Returning home from work, I was hesitated to walk into the garden, not because it was drizzling, but the rain deepened the already melancholy mood of the garden at this time of saying good bye. I took the following pictures from the back porch. The beauty still lingers. Let’s hope it will be a long good-bye.
Rain affected Hemingway even more. It rained on all sad occasions in his A Farewell to Arms. We read,
“In the fall when the rains came the leaves all fell from
the chestnut trees and the branches were bare and the trunks black with rain,”
and
“The vineyards were thin and bare-branched too and all the country wet and brown and dead with autumn.”
The last paragraph of the novel tells how Henry (the protagonist) walked out of the hospital after Catherine Barkley died of a difficult childbirth,
“But after I had got them out and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn’t any good. It was like saying good-bye to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.”
The last word of the novel is “rain”.
Both Milton and Shakespeare used “flat and weary” to describe depression.
My hopes all flat: Nature within me seems
In all her functions weary of herself;
- Milton
“How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable”, uttered by depressed Hamlet.
Returning home from work, I was hesitated to walk into the garden, not because it was drizzling, but the rain deepened the already melancholy mood of the garden at this time of saying good bye. I took the following pictures from the back porch. The beauty still lingers. Let’s hope it will be a long good-bye.
Rain affected Hemingway even more. It rained on all sad occasions in his A Farewell to Arms. We read,
“The vineyards were thin and bare-branched too and all the country wet and brown and dead with autumn.”
The last paragraph of the novel tells how Henry (the protagonist) walked out of the hospital after Catherine Barkley died of a difficult childbirth,
“But after I had got them out and shut the door and turned off the light it wasn’t any good. It was like saying good-bye to a statue. After a while I went out and left the hospital and walked back to the hotel in the rain.”
The last word of the novel is “rain”.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
My favorite spot in the garden
My favorite spot in the garden this season turns out to be
where the folding chair sits inside luffa garden, nay, luffa cabin.
It is the best place to have the inner soul to cultivate equanimity in defiance of all outward troubled worlds (this was written when our son-in-law, Sean, was diagnosed to have multiple myeloma). Sitting there one is surrounded by the lush green, calm, cool, serene and soothing, whether it is after sun-set or high noon, one feels all the same.
Sitting there looking at the luffas hanging or laying, one is gratified that labor of love comes to fruition.
I like to sit there and read, not that I have spare time to indulge. I still cannot think of anything better to read than Viola/Olivia’s “Willow Cabin” scene in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house.
. . . . .
This is the best time to re-read the post of “Make me a willow cabin at your gate”.
It is the best place to have the inner soul to cultivate equanimity in defiance of all outward troubled worlds (this was written when our son-in-law, Sean, was diagnosed to have multiple myeloma). Sitting there one is surrounded by the lush green, calm, cool, serene and soothing, whether it is after sun-set or high noon, one feels all the same.
Sitting there looking at the luffas hanging or laying, one is gratified that labor of love comes to fruition.
I like to sit there and read, not that I have spare time to indulge. I still cannot think of anything better to read than Viola/Olivia’s “Willow Cabin” scene in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Make me a willow cabin at your gate,
And call upon my soul within the house.
. . . . .
This is the best time to re-read the post of “Make me a willow cabin at your gate”.
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
From Memorial Day to Labor Day: from elative mood to melancholy mood of gardening
We gardeners look forward to seeing the Memorial Day, the “official”
day of the beginning of the garden season, even though we had been working to
prepare the “home” for the residents of the garden for nearly two months. It was full of excitement and expectation; a
gardener believes in tomorrow.
Labor Day is another story; it is the beginning of the end of the garden season. Beauty still lingers and there is beauty at the end (風韻猶存), luster is leaving although color remains.
Thus it is particularly uplifting that we’re still
cultivating at this time; it gives us hope and anticipation.
There are entries of “planted 茼𦶡 (冬莪) on 9/13/15” and “planted 台灣小白菜 on 9/14/15” in my garden journal. Some like it hot, but these Taiwanese veggies like it cool.
Labor Day is another story; it is the beginning of the end of the garden season. Beauty still lingers and there is beauty at the end (風韻猶存), luster is leaving although color remains.
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| Two blackened areas are newly planted 冬莪 and 台灣小白菜, along the fence are the snow peas that were planted at three different times; one is not emerged yet. |
There are entries of “planted 茼𦶡 (冬莪) on 9/13/15” and “planted 台灣小白菜 on 9/14/15” in my garden journal. Some like it hot, but these Taiwanese veggies like it cool.
I like to read Ecclesiastes because of its literary flavor
and strength, but read it with mixed emotion as it is too depressive, reminding
us of everything is transient and fleeting, 人生無常, so to speak.
This is from Ecclesiastes 3:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot
. . . . . . . .
So it is not entirely irrelevant to mention Ecclesiastes when all the summer flowers in our garden are waiting chrysanthemum (菊花; they live next to the New England asters--see photo below) to bloom to say good-bye before they “perish with beautiful reluctance” as did all Emily Dickinson’s flowers.
By the way, the title of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises comes from Ecclesiastes 1:5
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And hastens to the place where it arose.
This is from Ecclesiastes 3:
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot
. . . . . . . .
So it is not entirely irrelevant to mention Ecclesiastes when all the summer flowers in our garden are waiting chrysanthemum (菊花; they live next to the New England asters--see photo below) to bloom to say good-bye before they “perish with beautiful reluctance” as did all Emily Dickinson’s flowers.
By the way, the title of Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises comes from Ecclesiastes 1:5
The sun also rises, and the sun goes down,
And hastens to the place where it arose.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
A Jeffersonian garden
In order to elevate our garden I call it a Dickinsonian garden. After a pilgrimage (朝聖) to Monticello 2 years ago, I also began to imitate Thomas Jefferson’s garden
with the hope that one day I can call it Jeffersonian garden.
What strikes the visitors to our garden most is the ethnic veggies, such as luffa (絲瓜, 菜瓜), Chinese spinach (hollow green, 應菜, 空心菜), bitter melon (苦瓜), Taiwanese pumpkin (台灣南瓜), Chinese cucumber (小黃瓜), etc. Exotic though they may look to some; they’re the ones we grew up with.
Jefferson also had ethnic
(American) veggies in his garden at hotel de Langeac in Paris while serving as the
Minister (Ambassador) to France for 5 years (1784 to 1789). We read “I cultivate my own garden here. Indian corn for the use of my own table.” Corn was not available in Europe then. He also asked his Monticello’s neighbor, Col.
Nicholas Lewis, to ship him “sweet potato, watermelon, cantaloupe, acorns . . .”
While visiting home, Janice helped me weed and clear one area where I planted snow peas, thus in my garden “diary” (a FileMaker file) there is an entry of “planting snow peas on 8/29/2015.” The most recent planting was 9/9/2015. I am doing what Jefferson recorded in his Garden Book.
We have fig and kale in
our garden; Jefferson’s favorite.
Jefferson liked kale, praising it as “the most valuable garden plant”, “a
very delicate green”. He sent seeds to
every garden friends that he could find and boasted to Barbour that “no body in
the U.S. has [it] but those to whom I have given it.”
Jefferson’s wife had died
before he went to France. I never
figured out his exact relationship with a French lady, Maria Cosway. He wrote her in 1795, “I am eating the
peaches, grapes and figs of my own garden; I only wish I could eat them in
your native country, gathered on the spot; in your good company.” He suggested a trip with her to Italy,
although he said he would also invite some other lady friends “We will leave
the rest of the journey to imagination.”
Our figs (outside the
garden) came from Dr. Liang’s garden two years ago. They are still young and need protection
against the harsh and freezing winter. We
stopped by today to buy tree wraps at Lowe's and they have sold out.
What strikes the visitors to our garden most is the ethnic veggies, such as luffa (絲瓜, 菜瓜), Chinese spinach (hollow green, 應菜, 空心菜), bitter melon (苦瓜), Taiwanese pumpkin (台灣南瓜), Chinese cucumber (小黃瓜), etc. Exotic though they may look to some; they’re the ones we grew up with.
While visiting home, Janice helped me weed and clear one area where I planted snow peas, thus in my garden “diary” (a FileMaker file) there is an entry of “planting snow peas on 8/29/2015.” The most recent planting was 9/9/2015. I am doing what Jefferson recorded in his Garden Book.
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| snow peas |
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| Kale |
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| Fig |
Monday, September 7, 2015
Dickinsonian garden: rich confusion and chaotic order
Martha Dickinson (Emily's Dickinson's niece)
remembered her aunt’s garden “rich confusion was its aim . . . you want to come
upon mignonette in unexpected places, and to find sprays of heliotrope in close
consultation with roses . . . No stiffness, no ceremony.” “This kind of garden—asparagus waving near
phlox, roses entangled with peonies.”
Substitute the names of a few flowers and veggies; it also can describe our garden this way. It is rather “busy” and if there is any order, it is a chaotic one.
We also have many flowers of Emily Dickinson’s favorite: daisy, daylily, tulip, rose, lily, jasmine and zinnia. We do not call this Dickinsonian garden for no reason.
Substitute the names of a few flowers and veggies; it also can describe our garden this way. It is rather “busy” and if there is any order, it is a chaotic one.
We also have many flowers of Emily Dickinson’s favorite: daisy, daylily, tulip, rose, lily, jasmine and zinnia. We do not call this Dickinsonian garden for no reason.
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