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If planned and placed correctly, there is no better way to produce a calm & serene influence in your life than a Japanese garden. The basic elements include three points: plants, stone and water.
These gardens look beautiful all of the year with only regular pruning and weeding and of course, water and fertilizer.
They can be planned and implemented in small or large spaces from a balcony to a corner mound to a large plot. Here are some basic principals to help you create your own serenity garden:
1. Select focal points- Flowering Cherries, Flowering plums, Flowering Apricots, Japanese Maples, Bonsai Plants, Sago Palms, Nandina Domestica, or Ferns. Use one, three, or five depending on your space. If hedging or screening is needed select: Bamboo, Poclocarpus or Camellia Sasanqua for shade or part shade areas.
2. Create a meandering path with natural stone or stepping stones., look for our natural looking granite stepping stones Use small or large boulders to define planting areas.
3. Select and place small to medium support plants in groupings if near your focal points, 1 between focal points. Use pleasing combinations of leaf color, size, & texture. Suggestions include Dwarf Pittosporum, Yaupon Holly, Azaleas, Liriope, Juniper, Boxwood, and clumping grasses such as Mondo, Acorus, Sedge or Fountain Grass. For color, use seasonal annuals or perennials. Plant ground cover between stones and plants such as Korean Grass, Baby tears, Dichondra, Isotoma, or Scotch or Irish moss.
4. Add water features such as a small stone basin, bird bath, a false meandering "stream" bordered by, boulders & plants & filled with well-placed river pebbles, and possibly sand to create the illusion of water, or explore the possibility of building a waterfall or Koi pond. You can also add stone lanterns, bridges or statues.
5. Finally- here's a few rules to live by when planning your garden:
Be asymmetrical- no formal or even arrangements
plant sparsely -don't crowd plants.
Use limited varieties of plants; 3-4 varietiesartistically placed will have a better effect then 7 or 8 varieties scattered thoughout.
create harmony !
Sun, sun sunflowers...
You don't have to live in Kansas to enjoy sunflowers in the garden!
Sunflowers, formally known as Helianthus, make wonderful additions in the garden. Tall varieties that reach for the sky or dwarf types that are knee-high, there's a variety to suit every gardener's needs.
Here's the skinny on sunflowers: if you buy seeds, they can be directly sown in the garden when all danger of frost has passed (and it has passed!). They germinate quickly; especially for eager children. Come in and see our large selection. Sunflowers love the sun - but you knew that from their name. Lots of sun and allow the soil to dry slightly between waterings - avoid excess soil moisture. Sunflowers are NOT heavy feeders, so little fertilizer, if any, is required.
A helpful hint: sunflowers make great cut flowers so plant extra to enjoy in the home. And the birds will love you if you let the sunflower heads remain.
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1-1/2 cups chopped, seeded tomatoes
