West End Neighbors
Garden and History Tours
Ideas for color and
companions
in the garden:
Perennials in April |
Perennials in May |
Perennials in June |
Perennials in July |
Perennials in September
Ground covers through the months |
Shrubs through the months |
Trees through the months |
Houseplants
Installations and art |
Maintenance
Minnesota Noxious Weed List
(external link)
Minnesota
Wildflowers
(external link)
Extremely Cold Hardy Perennials
Perennial Resource
(external link)
Best Performing Perennials
Midwest Gardening (external link)
First produced in the Momyana period by warlord Furuta Oribe, oribe lanterns are among the oldest Japanese garden lanterns known. The stone lantern is a classic representation of a "planted" style for they do not have a base at the bottom. The oribe lantern has a carved Buddha at the base of the lantern and often thought to be a praying missionary, thus sometimes it is referred to as the "Christian" lantern
Outside of Japan, Jizo is known as Ksitigarbha (from Sanskrit), and he is a Bodhisattva or a practitioner of Buddhism who has deferred their own enlightenment to help others along the path. As a guardian of travelers, small statues of Jizo can be found alongside roads or at temples.
I bought the stone carving in Beijing in 1999. The Chinese characters mean "good fortune". The character for good fortune consists of the radical for auspicious or heaven sent to the left. The right-hand symbol represents a full container and is an ancient form from "oracle bones".
Rustic trellis built from deceased cedar
with hand-tied
Japanese knots
Weathervane