Tag Archives: Japanese Garden

Japanese Garden, BBG, Veteran’s Day

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Stone Basin with Cherry Leaves, Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Stone Basin

The Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden was another station on my tour of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on Veteran’s Day with Blog Widow. What’s the connection between Veteran’s Day and BBG’s Japanese garden? Its designer, Takeo Shiota, died in a U.S. internment camp during World War II.

There are different styles of Japanese gardens. The hill-and-pond style is intended to be viewed from a fixed point, in this case, the pavilion that reaches out over the shore of the pond. The stone basin above adorns the entrance to the pavilion.

It is a blend of the ancient hill-and-pond style and the more recent stroll-garden style, in which various landscape features are gradually revealed along winding paths. The garden features artificial hills contoured around a pond, a waterfall, and an island while carefully placed rocks also play a leading role. Among the major architectural elements of the garden are wooden bridges, stone lanterns, a viewing pavilion, the Torii or gateway, and a Shinto shrine.

The steep hills, representing distant mountains, are a maintenance nightmare: they cannot be mowed by walking a mower across them. Instead, the mower must be rigged to bypass its safety features, and carefully lowered and raised down and up the slopes using ropes controlled from the tops of the hills. BBG staff are gradually replacing the turf of the original design with slow-growing dwarf Ophiopogon, Mondo grass. These will eventually provide the same scale and texture as lawn without the hazards to life and limb.

One of the treacherous slopes along an idyllic path.
Japanese Garden, BBG

Cherry leaves reach over one end of the pond.
Cherry Leaves

The view from the other end of the pond.
Japanese Garden, BBG

Slideshow

[goog.gl]

Related Content

Flickr set

Natural History: Patrick Dougherty at BBG, 2010-11-22
Fall Foliage at BBG’s Bonsai Museum, 2010-11-16

Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, 2008-02-18
Gardening Matters: The death of Takeo Shiota (Grief & Gardening #4), 2006-10-29

Labels: Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Brooklyn Botanic Garden: Peak Everything

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Today, after this morning’s rains ended, Blog Widow and I went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It was my scheduled date to pickup my signature plant order: a pair of Paw-paws, and another native, unfamiliar to me: Meehania cordata. I shall be glad to make its acquaintance.

The Garden was peaking today. Like the King in Amadeus, I wanted to declare, simply: “Too many colors.” I didn’t get to see everything I wanted today. The Rock Garden was also peaking, but I only got to walk past that on my way to the plant pickup area. But I got enough to satisfy my jones for the day.

I’ve learned to carry deep photographic backup when I’m out on an excursion: two cameras, and two batteries for each. Today it paid off. The battery on my primary camera died just as I was taking the final shot for the panorama of the Cherry Esplanade.


Panorama, Cherry Esplanade, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

That’s when I discovered I was missing the backup battery. (It’s still missing.) My secondary, point-and-shoot, camera is small enough that I have it with me all the time, tucked into my shoulder bag or, like today, in my jacket. Then the battery died on the P&S, and I resorted to its backup battery, which held up for the rest of the afternoon.

[goo.gl]

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Flickr photo set

Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, February 16, 2008

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On Saturday, I visited the Rock Garden on my way to the second meeting of the newly forming Brooklyn Community Gardens Coalition. I visited the Japanese Garden after the meeting.

Japanese Garden, BBG

The Japanese Garden seemed even emptier than a month ago. There was more color on Saturday. Despite the frozen water, hints of Spring, or at least the end of Winter, were there for the eyes hungry to see them. It was lovely.

Soon, soon.
Pieris japonica "Dorothy Wyckoff", Japanese Garden, BBG
False Cypress? Japanese Garden, BBG

This is one of a handful of entrances to the Japanese Garden. This is the view on the approach from Magnolia Plaza.
Entrance, Japanese Garden, BBG
Bamboos at entrance to Japanese Garden

The pond was really, really frozen. Here are several views from different vantage points as I walked around.
Frozen Pond, Japanese Garden, BBG
Frozen Pond, Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG
Japanese Garden, BBG

The red arch in the pond is called a Torii. It signifies that a shrine is nearby. It’s surrounded by evergreens; even at this time of year, it can’t be seen unless you ascend the hill path and turn onto a short path leading to it.
Shrine, Japanese Garden, BBG

Several lengths of the hill paths are lined with these beautiful stone gutters.
Gutter, Japanese Garden, BBG

Beneath the ice, the Koi and carp moved slowly, like dreamy ghosts. This one was big enough, colorful enough, and close enough to the surface to get a shot of it. He’s at least a foot long.
Ice Koi, Japanese Garden, BBG
Ice Koi, Japanese Garden, BBG

Related posts

First Crocus
Flickr photo set
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, January 2008.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, December 2007

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Center Hall, BBG Lab and Admin Building
Center Hall, BBG Lab Admin Building

Last Friday I visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It started out as a beautifully sunny day, clouding over as the afternoon progressed.

Admission to the gardens is free for non-members on weekdays through February.

The occasion or excuse for my visit was to register for the first course in their Certificate in Horticulture program. Their Winter sessions were already booked, but I was able to sign up for the Spring session, which starts in April. Outside of work, this will be my first classroom education since I studied American Sign Language over 25 years ago.

All that aside, it was a beautiful day. Here are some highlights from my visit.

Baby

Baby, BBG’s specimen of the Titan Arum, Amorphophallus titanum, is in leaf this year. Each year, the Titam Arum will either flower or, more usually, put out a single leaf.

Baby, with humans for scale
Baby, with humans for scale

This whole structure is a single, giant compound leaf.
Amorphophallus titanum "Baby"

The petiole, shown here, has the same distinctive mottling I saw on the base of last year’s inflorescence.
Petiole detail, Amorphophallus titanum

“Baby” in bloom in August of last year
Titan Arum "Baby", Full View

Bonsai Museum

Camellia japonica “Julia Drayton” trained as a bonsai in the literati style
Camellia japonica Julia Drayton, Bonsai, Literati style

Detail of the roots and moss at the base of a cascade style bonsai of Pinus mugo
Detail, Cascade Bonsai

Three bonsai
Three Bonsai

Magnolia Plaza

The photo at the top of this post is from inside BBG’s Laboratory and Administration Building. That’s where I went to register for my course. Here’s a view of the center hall from the outside of the building, taken in March of 2007.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden Laboratory Administration Building

And here’s a view of that main entrance from the inside.
Main Entrance, BBG Lab Admin Building

BBG’s Lab Admin building was landmarked earlier this year.

The Magnolias themselves seemed to be in bud, a couple months too early.
Magnolia Bud

Hopefully, they’re smart enough to not get too optimistic. We’ll have lows in the teens this week.
Magnolia in Bud

Not everything was as monochromatic as the photo above suggests.
Magnolia Plaza

Athyrium nipponicum and Helleborus foetidus
Athyrium nipponicum and Helleborus foetidus

Japanese Hill & Pond Garden

The highlight of my visit, as I expected, was the Japanese Garden.

Pond

Pond

It being a weekday, and the middle of winter, and the middle of the holiday week, I almost had the garden to myself. I even had a precious couple of minutes when there was noone else there, which has never happened on any of my previous visits. It was lovely.

Entrance to Viewing Pavilion

Stone Basin

Mallards

Focal Planes

Viewing Pavilion

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, April 14, 2007

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[Updated 2007.04.19 21:30 EDT: Added Fragrance Garden, Magnolia Plaza, Daffodil Hill, and Lily Pool Terrace.]

Magnolia Flower, Magnolia Plaza, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Magnolia Flower

We visited the Brooklyn Botanic Garden last Saturday. So did a lot of other people. It was a perfect day, the day before the Nor’Easter hit and dumped a record rainfall on New York City.

As before, two ways you can explore. The title of this post links to the Flickr set of photos. Or, you can explore the Google Map of my visit.

Google Map of my visit to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on April 14, 2007

Rock Garden

West Path, South of the Rock Garden Scilla, Rock Garden Tulipa biflora, Rock Garden Narcissus, Rock Garden Stone Basin, Rock Garden Stone Basin, Rock Garden Hellebores and Beyond Signage, Rock Garden Signage, Rock Garden Signage, Rock Garden Legacy Willow outside the Rock Garden John Perambulatin'

Caucasian Wingnut

Best. Name. Ever. For a tree. This may be the most photographed non-flowering tree in the Garden. I’ll honor it with its own post some day.

Caucasian Wingut Shadow of a Wingut Caucasian Wingut (the Tree)

Compost Demonstration Area

Another feature of the Garden deserving of its own post. Just a couple of shots here. Check the Flickr set for all the signage. I liked the homemade styles; either one would work in my garden, now that I have enough space. Yes, I’m a geek.

Compost Demonstration Site Two-Bin System Two-Bin System, Interior View Garden Gourmet Biostack Compost Bench

Native Flora Garden

Entrance to the Native Flora Garden Gate, Native Flora Garden Gate Panel, Native Flora Garden Spider Arboglyphs, American Beech, Native Flora Garden de Vries Sweet Gum, Native Flora Garden Flower, Lindera benzoin, Native Flora Garden Hepatica, Native Flora Garden Skunk Cabbage, Native Flora Garden Confederate Violet, Native Flora Garden

Japanese Garden

I walked the south path of the garden. I don’t remember ever walking this way before. It’s a different perspective. And it’s also where the turtles like to hang out.

Pond, Japanese Garden Cherry Tree, Japanese Garden Pond, Japanese Garden Cherry Tree, Japanese Garden Japanese Garden Sleeping Duck, Japanese Garden Curiosity Salix bockii, Japanese Garden Salix bockii, Japanese Garden Pond, Japanese Garden Red-Eared Slider on Rock, Japanese Garden Pond Overlook, Japanese Garden

Fragrance Garden

This has the most beautiful stonework in the whole garden. It lies between the Shakespeare Garden and the recently landmarked Laboratory Administration Building which faces Magnolia Plaza.

Fragrance Garden Fragrance Garden Fragrance Garden Fragrance Garden Braille Sign for Chives in the Fragrance Garden Fragrance Garden Gate Sign, Fragrance Garden

Magnolia Plaza

They were at their peak when we visited. They’ll be just passing their peak right now.

Magnolias and Lab Admin Building Magnolia Flowers Urn, Magnolia Plaza Urn, Magnolia Plaza Walkway Compass, Magnolia Plaza Urn, Magnolia Plaza Urn, Magnolia Plaza Magnolia in front of Lab Admin Building Magnolias and Cupola Magnolias in front of Lab Admin Building Magnolia Plaza and Lab Admin Building Lab Admin Building Magnolia Flower Magnolia Flower Armillary Sphere, Magnolia Plaza

Daffodil Hill

Originally known as Boulder Hill, there’s still a marker for the old name.

Daffodil Hill viewed from Magnolia Plaza Plaque, Boulder Hill (Daffodil Hill) Daffodil Hill Daffodil Hill Daffodil Hill Daffodil Hill Daffodil Hill

Lily Pool Terrace

The Annual Borders are about to explode with Tulips. I didn’t get any shots of the Mixed (Shrubs and Perennials) Border, which has year-round interest and is lovely right now. Next trip.

Lily Pool Terrace and Palm House Goldfish and Palm House Darwin Hybrid Tulip "“Garant”" Reflections Kaufmanianna Tulip "“Early Harvest”" Double Early Tulip "“Yellow Baby”"

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Flickr photo set

Field Trip, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, November 6, 2005

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Stone basin with cherry leaves, outside the entrance to the Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Basin outside entrance to Japanese Garden

Another “lost” set of photos which I’d uploaded to Flickr, but never blogged. These are from a year-and-a-half ago, in November of 2005. Again, irritating that the “improved” Blogger won’t let me back-date them to the date I took the photos.

My parents were visiting with us, so they show up in several photos.

My parents walking toward the entrance of the Japanese Garden
My parents walking toward the entrance of the Japanese Garden

Pond and bridge in the Japanese Garden
Pond and bridge in the Japanese Garden

Torii seen from the Viewing Pavilion in the Japanese Garden
Torii seen from the Viewing Pavilion in the Japanese GardenTorii seen from the Viewing Pavilion in the Japanese Garden

My parents in the viewing pavilion
My parents in the viewing pavilion

Pond and Torii from the Viewing Pavilion
Pond and Torii from the Viewing Pavilion

Pond and Hill
Pond and Hill

Southern approach to the entrance to the Japanese Garden
Southern approach to the entrance to the Japanese Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Sundial near Magnolia Plaza
Sundial near Magnolia Plaza

Shrubbery in the mixed border, Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Shrubbery in the mixed border, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Lily Pool Terrace
Lily Pool Terrace
Lily Pool Terrace

My parents sitting by the Mixed Perennial Border
My parents sitting by the Mixed Perennial Border

Field Trip: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, April 23, 2006

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I thought I had previously blogged these photos, but I couldn’t find the blog post. So I’m posting it where I can find it again!

[I would have preferred to back-date these photos to April 23, 2006, the date of the visit, but “new” Blogger doesn’t seem to allow that.]

This is what we can look forward to in another six weeks or so in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

Cherry Blossoms
Cherry Blossoms

Cormorant, Torii, and Hillside in the Japanese Garden
Cormorant on Torii in the Japanese Garden
Cormorant, Torii, and Hillside in the Japanese Garden

Magnolia Plaza
Magnolia Plaza

Spring Bulbs in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Spring Bulbs in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Spring Bulbs in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Spring Bulbs in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Spring Bulbs in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Spring Bulbs in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Spring Bulbs in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace

Tulips in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Tulips in the Annual Border of the Lily Pool Terrace

Euphorbia in the Mixed Perennial Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Euphorbia in the Mixed Perennial Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Euphorbia in the Mixed Perennial Border of the Lily Pool Terrace

Lilacs in the Mixed Perennial Border of the Lily Pool Terrace
Lilacs in the Mixed Perennial Border of the Lily Pool Terrace

Redbuds and Spring Bulbs in the Fragrance Garden
Redbuds and Spring Bulbs in the Fragrance Garden
Redbuds and Spring Bulbs in the Fragrance Garden

A Visit to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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[Updated 2007.03.04: Added links to related posts, and to BBG.]

Today I dragged my better half to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. It was a brief visit; it was sunny and warm when we left the house, but cloudy and chilly by the time I finished buying my seeds at the gift shop.

Shadow and Light, Bonsai Museum, BBG

The Bonsai Museum

Four-way stone, Bonsai Museum, BBGBasin, Bonsai Museum, BBGAcer palmatum, Bonsai Museum, BBGJumiperus chinensis var. sargentii, Bonsai in literati style, BBGBonsai, detail showing wire wrapping in placeThree trees, Bonsai Museum, BBG

Bonsai Museum, Steinhardt Conservatory, BBGJuniperus chinensis, Bonsai, Informal upright style, BBG

The Desert Pavilion

Desert Pavilion, Steinhardt Conservatory, BBGDesert Pavilion, Steinhardt Conservatory, BBGDesert Pavilion, Steinhardt Conservatory, BBGPelargonium crithmifolium, Desert Pavilion, BBG

The Tropical Pavilion

Tropical Pavilion, Steinhardt Conservatory, BBGAnthurium infructescence with fruits, Tropical Pavilion, BBGPalm, Tropical Pavilion, BBGWatercolors, Tropical Pavilion, BBG

Croton leaf, Tropical Pavilion, BBG

The Japanese Garden

Torii and pond, Japanese Garden, BBGFIltered View, Japanese Garden, BBG

Torii and Pond, Japanese Garden, BBGFiltered View, Japanese Garden, BBG

Miscellaneous

Artist and subject in the Trail of Evolution greenhouse. BBG offers classes in botanical art and illustration. I think one or more classes were in session when we visited. We saw several student-artists throughout the garden.

Artist and subject, Trail of Evolution, BBG

Magnolia in bud at, where else, Magnolia Plaza. I’m guessing bloom for the Star Magnolias is just two weeks away, depending on what weather we get.

Magnolia buds, Judith D. Zuk Magnolia Plaza, BBG

The Shakespeare Garden. I hardly ever spend any time in this garden; I usually pass through it on my way to another destination. The entrance to this garden is just across from the Japanese Garden. It also connects with the Fragrance Garden.

Shakespeare Garden, BBG

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Field Trip: Brooklyn Botanic Garden

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We went to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden today. I wanted to catch the fall foliage (there was lots), see if they had the book Defiant Gardens (they did!), and, with Takeo Shiota in mind, visit the Japanese Garden.

DSC_3334Bonsai of Acer buergerianum in the root over rock style by Stanley Chinn in the Bonsai Museum.

Here’s a sampling of a few of the photos I took today. Each photo in this post links to its Flickr page with a description. The title of this post is linked to the Flickr set containing these photos. There are many more photos from today’s visit there.

DSC_3290DSC_3515DSC_3449DSC_3662DSC_3623DSC_3590

DSC_3459DSC_3374DSC_3583DSC_3318DSC_3360DSC_3303

Gardening Matters: The death of Takeo Shiota (Grief & Gardening #4)

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[Updated 2007.02.23: Added link to the issue of Plants & Gardens News (PDF, requires membership login) which mentioned Shiota’s death in the U.S. internment camps.]

A video sparked a connection for me among three seemingly unrelated topics: a Japanese Garden built over 90 years ago, World War II, and the Department of Homeland Security.

DSC_0013This is a view from the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. I took this photo last year, November 5, 2005. BBG has this to say about this garden on their Web site:

It is considered to be the masterpiece of its creator, Japanese landscape designer Takeo Shiota (1881-1943). Shiota was born in a small village about 40 miles from Tokyo, and in his youth spent years traversing Japan on foot to explore the natural landscape. In 1907 he came to America, driven by an ambition to create, in his words, “a garden more beautiful than all others in the world.”
– Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Note the year of Shiota’s death, 1943. I learned recently, from a review of the book Defiant Gardens in the Fall 2006/Winter 2007 issue of BBG’s Plants & Gardens News (PDF, requires membership login), that Shiota died in a United States internment camp for Japanese-Americans during World War II.

It has happened here before. It can happen again. And our government has plans to do so.

The Pearl Harbor attack intensified hostility towards Japanese Americans. As wartime hysteria mounted, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 causing over 120,000 West Coast persons of Japanese ancestry (Nikkei) to leave their homes, jobs, and lives behind to move to one of ten Relocation Camps.

This constituted the single largest forced relocation in U.S. history.
– Minidoka Internment National Monument

The largest, so far. I am painfully aware of the parallels between Pearl Harbor and September 11. As bad as the hysteria has been, it can get worse.

On January 24 of this year, the Department of Homeland Security awarded Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown & Root (KBR) a $385M contract [my emphasis added]:

The contract, which is effective immediately, provides for establishing temporary detention and processing capabilities to augment existing ICE [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] Detention and Removal Operations (DRO) Program facilities in the event of an emergency influx of immigrants into the U.S., or to support the rapid development of new programs. The contingency support contract provides for planning and, if required, initiation of specific engineering, construction and logistics support tasks to establish, operate and maintain one or more expansion facilities.

The contract may also provide migrant detention support to other U.S. Government organizations in the event of an immigration emergency, as well as the development of a plan to react to a national emergency, such as a natural disaster.
– Halliburton Press Release: KBR AWARDED U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY CONTINGENCY SUPPORT PROJECT FOR EMERGENCY SUPPORT SERVICES

This has been widely reported in the press, including the New York Times. Peter Dale Scott wrote an extensive analysis for Pacific News Service.

I can add little, except to relate these current historical events to the atrocity committed against a single person over 60 years ago, and share my feelings about all of this. Takeo Shiota was responsible for one of the most beautiful gardens in the world, one which I and millions of others have enjoyed, and will continue to enjoy. I will never again be able to visit that garden without wondering about him and his life, and thinking of how my government killed him. It is the least I can do.

Video: Crosby & Nash, “Immigration Man”

I haven’t thought of this song in many years, decades maybe. It was always one of my favorites, hauntingly beautiful vocals and chord progressions.

I don’t know who’s responsible for assembling the images into the video, but it’s an effective piece of work. This is what reminded me of the Halliburton contract, and led me to post this.

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