One of the most popular Zen Gardens is the Zen rock garden of the Ryoanji Temple in Kyoto, Japan. It is a United Nations World Heritage site and if you have not experienced the garden there is no way to explain the feeling you get of peace and serenity.

How could a simple garden with no plants, flowers, trees or even weeds create such feelings?

The garden is in a rectangular shape measuring about 98 foot by 32 foot and is surrounded by earthen walls on three sides and a wooden veranda on the fourth side. It contains a bedding of white pebbles and 15 rocks of varying sizes.

The Ryoanji Temple means Temple of the Peaceful dragon. It was built sometime in the 1450’s and is a Zen place of worship and meditation. It burned in the Onin Wars and was rebuilt in 1486. The rock garden, just to the abbots’ quarters was laid out for a place for the monks to meditate. The landscape style used for the garden is called Karesanansui, which means withered landscape.

The gardens rocks are placed in five separate groups with the white pebbles being raked everyday around the rocks. It is raked in a circular shape around each rock and perfectly straight lines fill the rest of the areas without rocks.

One unique aspect of the garden is that no matter where you stand in the garden you can see only 14 rocks. One is always hidden from view. They say the only way you can see all 15 rocks at one time is through attaining spiritual enlightenment as a result of Zen meditation.

Various explanations for the garden’s layout have been given over the centuries but there are no clear-cut answers to its design. It has been said that the white gravel represents the ocean and the rocks the islands of Japan.  It is also said that the rocks represent the Chinese symbol for “heart” or “mind.”

One last idea is that they represent a mother tiger and her cubs.  They are swimming in the river of the white sand toward a fearful dragon. The mystery of the garden has lasted for centuries and may never be solved. Possibly that is part of the gardens charm and relaxing feel.

Recently a new research technique that studies shapes has been applied to he gardens design. They say although the open spaces appear to be empty they actually have a subconscious design of a tree trunk and branches and this image is what causes the claming effect to the gardens. Some believe of the garden rocks were to be rearranged the calming atmosphere would be altered.

Whatever the reason for the gardens tranquil effects, it is a unique experience and offers a different look to what is considered a garden.

There are mini Zen gardens available for people to take care of and arrange and I have to admit they are fun and calming. I have a couple.

Chuck Hall writes for the Wilson Country News. What I liked about this article was his
experimenting with gardening in containers and the actual number of containers you would need to grow you own food supply. It makes a strong point for not needing to have a lot of space to grow your own vegetables. Besides having fresh, chemical free food you get the benefit of a relaxing activity!

Below is the entire article.

Container gardening

Those of you who read this column regularly know that I am a vegetarian. Over the last
year or so, I have been experimenting with growing my own food in order to determine how much time and effort are required to feed someone who doesn’t eat meat.

Traditionally, the only people who have grown their own food have been people who live in a rural setting, because they are the ones who have the most ready access to land, but what about people who live in urban environments?

Should they just give up on growing their own fruits and vegetables, or is it possible that
even apartment dwellers could supplement their grocery budget by growing some of their
own fruits and vegetables?

This spring, I began an experiment in container gardening. I bought a dozen flowerpots, 12-inches in diameter, and planted vegetables in them. The goal was to see if I could grow at least one-quarter of my food in containers. If such a thing is possible, then people who live in urban environments can also enjoy the benefits of organic gardening.

As a result of this experiment, I have learned that a dozen flowerpots are more than
enough to produce a quarter of my vegetable needs. In fact, next year I plan to attempt
to grow at least half of my food using a dozen containers.

There were a few drawbacks along the way; for example, I have learned that next year I may make my own containers. The benefit of making my own is that I could make them square, and they would fit together much easier than the round ones I have right now. I also discovered that if I put chicken wire around the base of the plants, the cats won’t try to use the pots as a litter box.

The result of this experiment has been that I spent about 30 minutes, two to three times a week, caring for my container garden, and in return I got nearly half of my food from a
dozen flowerpots. I plan to try this experiment again next year, and this time I will keep detailed records of the cost of my container garden vs. the cost of the same amount of vegetables if purchased at the local grocery store.

While vacationing in Cherokee, N.C., over the summer, I heard of a planting technique that the Cherokee called the “Three Sisters.” They would plant corn, beans, and squash in the same hole. The corn stalk acted as a “pole” for the beans, and the broad squash plant’s eaves shaded the roots of the other plants, minimizing the growth of weeds.

I’m not sure how well corn will grow in a container, but next year I plan to experiment to see if it is possible. If any of you home gardeners have any experience with this, I’d
love to hear from you.Ultimately, sustainable living is all about minimizing our ecological “footprint” — that is, reducing as much as possible the amount of land and resources required to exist on this planet. The goal of my container gardening experiment is to eventually determine just how much (or how little) soil is required to feed a vegetarian. So far, it’s not as much as you might think.

Chuck Hall is a sustainability consultant and author. His latest book, Green Circles: A
Sustainable Journey from the Cradle to the Grave, is now available at the Culture Artist
Web site at http://www.cultureartist.org.
You can email Chuck at chuck@cultureartist.org.

I have tried the Three Sisters Garden. They will do well in a container and have a creative theme quality to the planting. The following url will take to to a Three Sisters Garden article.
http://thegardenersrake.com/three-sisters-garden-historical-theme-garden

In the winter many gardens look bare but with proper planning there is no need for this
Certain trees and shrubs have berries, colored bark and twigs and interesting
shapes. Warmer climates have certain plants that will always grow. And when all else
fails, garden art and interesting buildings and sculptures can fill in for plants and
flowers.

Below is a very interesting article written by Dean Fosdick, which ran in the Associate
Press Dec 23rd.

I have included the story and the url link for the photo that was included. The photo
was a unique garden art piece made from an old farm piece. Check it out, it was fun!

Who needs flowers? Yard art brightens winter lawns

Art is enjoying a coming out party across America as gardeners add personality to their
yards.
Discarded farm implements are being restored for use as planters. Plywood cutouts of
Disney-like ducklings are staked out alongside driveways and sidewalks. Statuary mingles with rose bushes. Fountains become the focal points of residential ponds. Colorful bottles replace fall foliage on tree branches.

Personal statements, all. But does this visual outpouring represent a creative
direction in landscaping or is it just so much neighborhood kitsch?

”Garden is art and art is a part of the garden. We realize these two things belong
together,” said Holly Shimizu, executive director of the United States Botanic Garden
in Washington, D.C.

Shimizu’s husband is a Japanese garden designer, which is an exacting form of
landscaping.

”You do have some restraints in that kind of garden,” Shimizu said. ”I kept wanting to
junk ours up. He kept saying, ‘No.’ I finally found a beautiful stone Buddha. He said,
‘OK.’ It looks nice and appropriate.

“Some gardens are meant for yard art and there are certain kinds of yards where it
really works. But it’s not for every garden. You have to have a respect for place.”

Jill Nokes is a horticulturist and landscape designer from Austin, Texas, who became
fascinated with yard art or ”vernacular landscapes” during family travels across the
region as a child.

It’s a way for people to ”use their yard or garden to create particularly exuberant
statements about themselves, their history or background and even religious beliefs,”
writes Nokes in Yard Art and Handmade Places: Extraordinary Expressions of Home (University of Texas Press).

Garden art has had a place in my garden for years. It just adds to the fun of gardening
and makes each garden each year and new adventure.

To view the original article:

http://www.sltrib.com/homeandfamily/ci_7796038