A Visit to Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou

A school of carp and a lonely peacock...

Hmmm, gardening in Toronto as 2013 ends? Not a pretty picture with many trees severely damaged due to the recent ice storm. (An estimated 20% of Toronto's tree canopy was destroyed.) Temperatures are also expected to plummet this week to lows of minus 15-20 degrees Celsius. 

And it's only the beginning of January!

I retrieved some pictures from a warmer time in July 2012 for you from our family's trip to China. This post covers part of a day visiting the Flower Harbor Park, a scenic attraction near the southwest part of West Lake (Xi Hu) area near Hangzhou, China.

Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou lotus bud 

The Park ("Hua gang") should better be described as "Viewing Fish at Flower Harbor" as it is one of the ten idealized views of West Lake. (Others include the poetically named "Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake" and "Three Pools Mirroring the Moon".) Like the classical Chinese gardens in Suzhou (The Lingering Garden is one I profiled recently), the West Lake Cultural Landscape is considered by UNESCO as having "Outstanding Universal Value" and merits protection by being on its World Heritage List.

If you're a student of  landscape design, West Lake's poetic views express

"the very specific cultural tradition of improving landscapes to create a series of 'pictures' that reflect what was seen as a perfect fusion between people and nature, a tradition that evolved in the Tang and Song Dynasties and has continued its relevance to the present day. The 'improved' West Lake, with its exceptional array of man-made causeways, islands, bridges, gardens, pagodas and temples, against a backdrop of the wooded hills, can be seen as an entity that manifests this tradition in an outstanding way." Source: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1334

Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou, lotus buds 

Maybe you're not really interested in Chinese landscape design and just want to see pretty flowers. Well, I got some good and bad news. The good news is that if you visit in late spring/early summer (May? June?), the Park's Peony Garden should be full of big blowsy herbaceous blooms. Apparently, crabapple, azaleas and peach blooms are glorious then as well.

The bad news is that I visited in July so no peonies for you this time. Visiting in May wouldn't be a bad time, weather-wise, as I expect the humidity and heat to be less oppressive.

More bad news: the lotus (Nelumbo nucifera?) above and below weren't in bloom yet!

Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou, lotus

Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou 

More "poetic" views seen from the paths and walkways throughout the park:

West Lake, Flower Harbor Park, Hangzhou  

West Lake, Flower Harbor Park, Hangzhou.
A little further to the right...

Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou.
 Nice borrowed view!

Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou, China

Path at Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou 

Flower Harbor Park woods, West Lake, Hangzhou.
I guess the Musa are hardy here.

Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou peacock.
We didn't see females around so maybe he was strutting just for us!

We made our way to the most "touristy" part of the park: the Red Carp Pond.  Maybe "touristy" is mean-spirited, it's not like concession stands and hawkers were surrounding us. There were simply hundreds of visitors marvelling at the massive school of goldfish/carp/koi pooling around us, begging for fish food (which you could buy of course). I'm sure the gardens and plants were nice but the fish viewing was the real reason visitors came here. After all, the poetic description is "Viewing Fish at Flower Harbor", for good reasons:

Flower Harbor Park, Red Carp Pond,  West Lake, Hangzhou

Red Carp Pond, Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou 

Sean at Red Carp Pond Flower Harbor Park, West Lake, Hangzhou

Do you have "poetic views" in your gardens?

By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog" Google Google Find us on Google+

Reflections on 2013

Some muses from the past 12 months (notes to myself, in no particular order):

• don't bother growing cannas with the intention of overwintering them. Yes, you did cut the stalks off but were too busy lazy to dry the tubers, break open the bag of perlite and store them in the basement. Accept them as annuals.

• 2014 could be year to shovel prune the three purple leaf sandcherry (Prunus x cistena) standards in the backyard that are afflicted with scale, rust, sawflies, etc. and bloom for a week. Discuss with your beloved.

• don't accept business (a new client) referred to you by said potential client's ("PC") previous gardener ("PG"). It's very likely that PC hasn't let go of PG, emotionally, and will never really accept you. This makes for a doomed relationship. Sometimes, your best customer works for your competitor.

• always carry anti-histamines with you as the severity of an allergic reaction from a yellow jacket sting is exponentially related to the distance of the nearest pharmacy.

• you're still a "U-OH"! (an unrepentant ornamental horticulturist). You prefer big blowsy blooms, bold in-your-face foliage and deeply furrowed bark over a row of vegetables. Square foot gardening doesn't get the blood pumping for you.

• the viburnum leaf beetle is here to stay in and around Toronto; therefore, the arrowwood viburnums (V. dentatum) in your backyard are losing their appeal, real fast.

• Japanese Forest Grass (Hakonechloa macra cultivars) should be in every garden. It's just a  matter of time.

• you realize, once again, that you can't work in an office again full-time and that your c.v. is increasingly, if not already, useless. As an entrepreneur, you feel that this is perfectly normal and expected.

• The overuse of Emerald cedars (Thuja occidentalis "Smaragd"), "Emerald Gaiety" euonymus and Hicks yews (Taxus x media "Hicksii") around Toronto is alarming. Several yards of retina-burning red dyed mulch added by landscape "professionals" complete the transformation.

• Logically, plants are just plants. They're often bought and planted and, for many unexplained reasons, they also die. This is the rational view but gardeners are humans, ruled by emotion. Gardens are extremely emotion-laden places. Something to think about before making a comment about a client's ancient forsythia or bridal wreath spireaea that hasn't been pruned since, perhaps, the 1980s.

• you've met some of the most incredibly nice, thoughtful and wise people in the world: my clients.

Well, that's all I can think of at the moment as I peer out of my living room, marvelling the front yard's silver maple currently ice laden due to the freezing rain wreaking havoc to southern Ontario.

I wish you a Merry Christmas, if you celebrate, and a Happy New Year to everyone.

May your gardens and other gardeners continue to inspire you next year.

By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog" Google Google Find us on Google+

The Lingering Garden in Suzhou, China

Classical Chinese garden design at Liu Yuan

The funny thing with the frigid windchill and impending snow storm is that I'm out of "garden mode."  I'll have to stretch my definition of  "gardening"  for readers over the next 5 (!) months until spring, mercifully, returns to us in Toronto. Which could occur in April 2014, maybe. 

Depressing!

It's good to keep the cold weather in perspective because, if we're completely honest, we tend to moan and gripe about the humidity, heat and bugs assaulting Toronto gardeners in July and August. As a mental exercise, then, see if you can warm up a little by reading this post.

My family visited parts of China in July 2012, eventually ending up in my wife's ancestral village. I posted about our visits to the Summer Palace and Ming Tombs near Beijing  previously under these posts:  "Toronto gardeners need some warmth!" and "Garden muses visits Beijing in July". Now if you ever visited China in July, you darn know well it's hot and humid. No different when we visited Suzhou on the same trip.

Suzhou (pronounced "Sue-Joe") is about 100 km from Shanghai (see this map) and is a major commercial city of about 6 million, give or take a million, in China's Jiangsu province. It's famous for its canals and gardens, or so our tour guide advised us; therefore, off we went to visit the Lingering Garden or Liu Yuan. Although the heat was stifling (around 40 Celsius or upper 90s Fahrenheit humidex), it was an extraordinary experience to see classical Chinese garden design first hand.

Hao Pu Pavilion in the Lingering Garden, Suzhou 

The Lingering Garden is one of nine classical gardens in Suzhou designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. According to the UNESCO site,

"Limited to the space within a single residence, classical Suzhou gardens are intended to be a microcosm of the natural world, incorporating basic elements such as water, stones, plants, and various types of buildings of literary and poetic significance. 

The Lingering Garden dates from the end of the 16th century and is the work of Xu Taishi, also a high Imperial official. Its present name was given to it in 1873 by the Zhengs, who paid a graceful tribute to the former owners, the Liu family, since the Chinese word for "lingering" is similar to the name of this fami1y. When Deputy Minister Shi Zhengzhi lived in Suzhou in the late 12th century he called his house "The Fisherman's Retreat," and this idea was picked up in late 18th century by Song Zongyuan when he created the Garden of the Master of the Nets....

The central part features mountain and lake scenery, encircled by buildings and visited by means of a narrow, winding path which gives unexpected views of great beauty."

(Source: Classical Gardens of Suzhou) 

I completely agree with the last paragraph in the above quote! Let me know what you think.

Hanbi Mountain Villa in the Lingering Garden, Suzhou

Lingering Garden in Suzhou, example of ornamental rock 

Lingering Garden in Suzhou rock garden. 

Compare the permanent grotesque nature of the rockery (the rougher, the better in Chinese gardens) and the softer temporary nature of the bamboo and sedges.

You might not pick it out but there's a crane mosaic in the pebble tiling, lower centre of the picture.

Lingering Garden in Suzhou, down a path with bamboo 

Example of bonsai in the Lingering Garden, Suzhou 

A verdant path in the Lingering Garden, Suzhou 

Lingering Garden, Suzhou detail of pebble path.

Another example of the importance of the  "bones"/hardscape/structure or whatever you want to label the harder and permanent elements in the garden.

Visually interesting and makes for a nice contrast between the smooth pebble tiling versus the rough rockery making up the side retaining walls.

It's not always about pretty flowers!

Example of specimen rock at the Lingering Garden, Suzhou

Lingering Garden, Suzhou rock garden 

Lingering Garden, Suzhou signage.

Translation between languages is often imperfect so I won't be snarky about the "Chinglish" signs like this one throughout the garden. The sentiment is noble, don't you think?

[Editor: Serendipity (aka Google search) allowed me to stumbled upon another blogger who lives in Suzhou and also posted about the same signs in her blog entry titled: The Signage of the Lingering Garden. Her blog called "Year in Suzhou" makes for excellent reading if you want to learn more about the people in the area.]

Lingering Garden, Suzhou blooming water lilies 

Lingering Garden, Suzhou water lily blooms in detail. 

I can never get enough of water lily photos....

Rock garden in the  Lingering Garden, Suzhou.

I'm a huge fan of walled gardens and this picture gives the impression that we're in another room.

Suzhou Lingering Garden rock garden.

Monochromatic greys of the rocks and greens of the sedges and trees forced me to sit, reflect and, yes, linger.

View from Hao Pu Pavilion in the Lingering Garden, Suzhou.

The bridge originating from the left of this photo is covered with wisteria so you can imagine the blooms earlier in the year. I imagine this scene wouldn't be too shabby in the fall either. 

If I had a million dollars...as the song goes...

View towards the Pellucid Tower in the Lingering Garden, Suzhou

Well, at least I warmed up a little reminiscing about that day in Suzhou!



By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog" Google Google Find us on Google+

Saying goodbye to a Toronto garden

(An open letter to two former gardening clients)

Dear Sue and Doug:

As 2013 draws to a close, I'm reflecting on the "highs and lows" gardening-wise over the year. I wasn't surprised to hear that you decided to move, downsize and spend more time travelling. Still, I'll miss spending time in your garden.

I think we first met about 8 years ago when I was gardening at the church (Islington United Church) and you must have got my number from Rosemary. You'd asked me to, first, put down a short fieldstone path around some perennial beds and towards the back pergola. Then, over time, the garden enchanted me.

Of course, over the years, we:

• fretted over the possibility/likelihood of the oakleaf hydrangeas blooming on old or new wood (still a mystery to me, they do what they want to do)

"Sum and Substance" hosta and oakleaf hydrangeas

• resigned to seeing the slug and snails wreaking havoc with the hostas
• tried to tame to wild and woolly trumpet vine
• complained about the condition of the front lawn
• marvelled at the Paper Birch's beauty
• laughed at how the Pagoda dogwood grew from a sapling near the compost bin, likely introduced through a bird dropping!

After my last visit before your move, I realized that I would miss the garden more than I thought.

I think a garden gives back to the gardener in many ways, dividends that enrich the soul and psyche (to mix metaphors.) I always found your garden to be restful and even idyllic with the pond gurgling away. Yes, it was visually nice to look at, with the iris and peonies blooming in the spring and later with the monkshood and bugbane tying up the year. And, although I'll miss the weeding and fussing about the garden, deadheading here and there, I'll really miss my experiences with you both: sharing time over coffee, talking about the kids and grandkids, and even commiserating about aches and pains due to aging!

Thank you for providing a space for me to develop and implement my creative thoughts about garden design and, much more importantly, showing me how to be a better person, with your kindness and generosity, in and outside the garden.

By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog" Google Google Find us on Google+ Find us on Google+

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013

Get your poinsettia fix in downtown Toronto

Poinsettias seem to me the ultimate decoration plant: you buy one or several for a month or so and then chuck them out soon after December 25. I suppose one could nurse them along the rest of the year (I've seen a few very forlorn-looking examples occasionally behind the windows of barber shops, convenience stores, etc.) but the logic escapes me.

Better to enjoy them, en masse, within the cozy confines of the Allan Gardens Conservatory during its seasonal Christmas Flower Show.

I made a visit just after the place opened at 10 this morning. Nice and quiet, as usual.

Here are some highlights if you can't make the trek downtown to Jarvis and Carlton (poor excuse if you live in Toronto!)

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 piano

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 tree topiary

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 green piano

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 Leda and Zeus Fountain

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 paperwhites

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 people topiary

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 pink cyclamen

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 red cyclamen

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 pink and red poinsettias

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 poinsettias and tropical plants

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 red cyclamen

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 red poinsettias

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 red white poinsettias tropical plants

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 red and white poinsettias

Allan Gardens Conservatory Christmas Flower Show 2013 seasonal container

[Update: Even more and better pictures of the Christmas Flower Show can be seen on these posts created by fellow Toronto gardening bloggers Helen and Sarah Battersby, respectively:


Exposure Therapy for the Poinsettia Phobic

Allan Gardens Christmas Flower Show 2013

Enjoy!]


By Paul Jung, author of "garden muses: a Toronto gardening blog"

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Toronto Music Garden: Brown Friday

Can dormant ornamental grasses be...ummm...ornamental?

The American shopping phenomenon called "Black Friday" has been rearing its lovely commercial head in Toronto with greater frequency and intensity recently. For those few not in the know, the last Friday in November in the Great White North is just that: the last Friday in November. But for more than a few of our American brothers and sisters, Black Friday means donning on the protective gear and joining the masses at the Wal-Marts (brawl anyone?) to get, apparently, ridiculous deals on made in China widgets.

Hey, I love a deal as much as the next guy but lining up in the cold at 5:00 a.m. for widgets doesn't do it for me. So the celebrate Black Friday, garden muses-style, I visited a place far, far away from the madding crowds: the Toronto Music Garden.

To my half-dozen readers, I present Brown Friday!

Toronto Music Garden winter
ornamental grasses Courante section

Ok, so you see dead plants (I prefer dormant but I won't split hairs). But if you're a zone 5 or lower gardener in many places of North America, you should consider such plants with "winter interest." Now I write these two words in quotes because, for some, asking them to appreciate dried berries, peeling bark or dead stalks and flowers for a solid 4 months (!) of the year is really asking too much. Many gardeners just dismiss this idea,  raze their garden beds to stubble, close the curtains and finger their seed catalogues longingly in January and February.

Last time I checked, brown is a colour and on this cold Friday, you can see many shades of brown in these pictures I took at the Toronto Music Garden today. 

I do think the grasses and sleeping perennials are ornamental indeed for maybe 10 months out the year, except when they're cut back hard in spring. 10 out of 12 isn't a bad ratio, when you think about it.

Toronto Music Garden perennials showing
their winter structure in the  Courante section 

Toronto Music Garden in early winter
with the CN Tower poking out of a grove of conifers! 

Toronto Music Garden winter
Miscanthus/maiden grass 

Toronto Music Garden winter
Miscanthus/maiden grass seedheads

Toronto Music Garden winter ornamental
 grasses and rudbeckia along Courante section 

Toronto Music Garden Courante section
 showing winter ornamental grasses and
 other perennials