Dr. Tsai's blog: garden inventory 2012

“This garden has a world of pleasure in’t” (uttered by Emilia in Act II Scene 2 of Two Noble Kinsmen). To paraphrase from a song of Spring in Love's Labour's Lost, “All the flowers paint our garden with delight.”

Taking care of so many living and growing things, we often see the wonder of life and thinking about “resurrection” seeing the perennials come back every year. No wonder Emily Dickinson wrote we are “closer to God in a garden than anyplace on this earth.”

In the letter to her brother, Austin, Emily Dickinson wrote,

Prithee, my brother,
Into my garden, come !

So, Prithee (= Pray thee = please), my FB friends,
Into my garden, come !

(The post is an ongoing project; I'll alert you from time to time as it progresses.)

Aster:
And when I come to the garden ground
. . . . .
I end not far from my going forth
By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
To carry again to you
— Robert Frost’s “The late walk”

aster 8/22/12

Azalea:
A popular Chinese song, 杜鵑花 (azalea)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnZ9K3kegYI

azalia 4/24/12

Bee balm:

bee balm 7/26/12

Bell flower:

bell flower 6/1/12

Blackeye Susan:

blackeye susan 6/14/12

Blue flox:

blue flox 5/4/12

Calendula (bon bon orange):

calendula7/16/12

Canna:

canna 8/3/12

Celosia:

celosia 9/5/12

Chinese basil:

Chinese basil 6/21/12

Chinese cabbage:

Chinese cabbage 5/24/12

Chinese celery:

Chrysanthemum (菊花):

chrysanthemum 10/5/12

Cilantro:

cilantro 9/12/12

Coleus (彩葉草):

coleus 8/31/12

Columbine:
What is that--a Columbine?
No ! that thankless flower grows not in my garden.
- All Fools by Chapman, 1605

columbine 5/30/12

Corn:
He weeds the Corn, and still lets grow the weeding.
Love's Labour's Lost Act I Scene 1

King Edward IV

Once more we sit in England’s royal throne,
Re-purchased with the blood of enemies.
What valiant foemen, like to autumn’s corn,
Have we mowed down, in tops of all their pride!

Henry VI (Part 3) Act V Scene 7

corn 8/9/12

Daffodil:
When Daffodils begin to peer,
With heigh ! the doxy o'er the dale,
Why, then comes in the sweet of the year.
--Winter's Tale Act IV Scene 3

The skies can’t keep their secret !
They tell it to the hills —
The hills just tell the orchards —
And they the daffodils !
— Emily Dickinson's "Secret"

daffodil 3/26/12

Dahlia:

dahlia 9/1/12

dahlia 5/2/12

Daisy:
When Daisies pied, and Violets blue;
And Lady-smocks all silver-white,
And Cuckoo-buds of yellow hue
Do paint the meadows with delight
- song of Spring in Love's Labour's Lost

daisy 6/14/12

Day lily:

daylily 5/11/12

Delphinium:

delphinium 6/28/12

Dianthus:

Dollar Tree:

dollar tree 4/25/12

Fan flower:

fan flower 9/12/12

Four O'clock flower:

four o'clock flower 8/27/12

Foxglove:

foxglove 5/27/12

Garlic chive:

garlic chive 7/26/12

garlic chive 8/2/12

Geranium:

geranium 7/26/12

Ginger:
I had but one penny in the world, thou should'st have it to buy Ginger-bread.
-- Love's Labour's Love Act V Scene 1

ginger 9/13/12

Gladiolus:

gladiolus 7/14/12

gladiolus 6/12/12

Green bean:

green bean 8/27/12

Hibiscus:
Big is Beautiful

hibiscus 7/25/2012


hibiscus 7/25/2012

Hyacinth:
“You gave me hyacinths first a year ago;

They called me the hyacinth girl.”

—Yet when we came back, late, from the Hyacinth garden,

Your arms full, and your hair wet, I could not

Speak, and my eyes failed, I was neither

Living nor dead, and I knew nothing,

Looking into the heart of light, the silence.

— T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land

hyacinth 3/24/12

Hydrangea:
I tell you the white hydrangeas turn rust and go soon.
Already mid September a line of brown runs over them.
One sunset after another tracks the faces, the petals.
Waiting, they look over the fence for what way they go.
— Carl Sandburg

hydrangea 8/20/12

Impatiens:

impatiens 5/24/12

Iris:

iris 5/16/12

Italian squash:

Italian squash 8/11/12

Japanese pumpkin:

Japanese pumpkin 8/2/12

Kale:

Lily:
Like the Lily
That once was mistress of the field and flourished,
I'll hang my head and perish.
- Henry VIII Act III Scene 1

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.
-- Chinese proverb (refer to ginger)

lily 6/28/12

Lily-of-the-valley:

4/30/12

Lobelia:

lobelia (blue) 9/5/12

Luffa:

luffa 8/29/12

Marigold:
The marigold that goes to bed with the sun,
And with him roses weeping; these are flowers
Of middle summer.
Winter's Tale Act IV Scene 4

marigold 8/22/12

Morning glory:
A morning-glory at my window [at my chain-link fences] satisfies me more than the metaphysics of books
-- by Walt Whitman

morning glory 8/31/12

Moss rose:

Pansy:
And there is Pansies--that's for thoughts.
Hamlet Act IV Scene 5

pansy 6/8/12

Peach:

peach 7/29/12

Peony:
惆怅階前红牡丹
晚來唯有两枝殘
明朝風起應吹盡
夜惜衰红把火看

peony 5/20/12

peony 5/22/12

Pepper:
I am Peppered, I warrant, for this world.
- Romeo and Juliet Act III Scene 1

pepper medusa 7/24/12

pepper 7/13/12

pepper 7/27/12

Petunia:

petunia 8/2/12

Pink (Pinky):
Hide, oh hide, those hills of snow
Which thy frozen bosom bears!
On whose tops the Pinks that grow
Are of those that April wears.
- Measure for Measure Act IV Scene 1

pinky 7/28/12

Poppy:
Not Poppy or Mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou ownedst yesterday.
- Othello Act III Scene 3

poppy 5/1/12

Rose:
When I have plucked he Rose,
I cannot give it vital growth again,
It needs must wither.
I'll smell it on the tree.
- Othello Act V Scene 2