With the only un-interrupted cultural development in the world for 4000 years, China has a great heritage of magnificent gardens and garden building techniques. Unfortunately, few people in the western world are aware of this treasure. As China is prospering again under the current economic boom, its gardening traditions are generating new interests worldwide. A few years ago, there were only a handful of Chinese gardens in North America. Now two high profile ones are under construction at the Huntington Library in Southern California and the National Arboretum in Washington D.C.. However, from what I have seen so far, the Portland Classical Chinese Garden is still the best Chinese garden in North America. Continue reading
Fragrant Orchids of China
In the U.S., especially in California, when someone mentions cymbidium, it is usually a large potted evergreen semi-terrestrial orchid that comes to mind. This one has grassy leaves up to 3′ long and 1″ wide, with clusters of big pseudo-bulbs the size of large eggs. During winter and spring, many flower spikes shoot up from the base of the pseudo-bulbs, and each spike holds many large, cupped blooms. Since their colors are not very saturated, these flowers are not as showy as those of some other tropical orchids such as Phalaenopsis, Dendrobium, and Cattleya, but they make up for it by being one of the easiest orchids to grow. Continue reading
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Michelia alba – The King of Fragrant Plants
Michelia alba is an evergreen tropical tree from Southeast Asia beloved for its wonderfully fragrant flowers. In its native habitat, this tree can get to 30′ high and wide and is often used as a street tree. It is believed to be a hybrid between Michelia champaca (another fragrant tree in its own right and the source of the word ‘Shampoo’) and Michelia montana, a Malaysian species. Possibly due to its hybrid origin, Michelia alba rarely set seeds in the garden, so most propagation is done by grafting or air-layering. This difficulty in propagation makes Michelia alba usually twice as expensive as Michelia champaca, which can be easily propagated from seed and is often used as rootstock for Michelia alba. One master hobbist friend of mine, Calvin, has successfully propagated Michelia alba in all possible ways, including softwood cuttings and occasional seeds. Continue reading
Yin Yang Chair
I saw my first Yin Yang Chairs at the new Janus et Cie showroom in San Francisco a few weeks ago. For those who haven’t heard, this is a new set of garden lounge chairs from a German outdoor furniture company Dedon. I have always liked Dedon’s other outdoor furniture pieces with their clever design rooted in tradition and their patented synthetic wicker called HULARO. But Yin Yang chairs have achieved a new level of sophistication. It is a magnificent modern incarnation of the most well known symbol in Chinese culture that is thought to be the foundation of everything in the universe (The origin of this symbol was two complimentary fish). A pair of these would really stand out as a piece of modern sculpture in front of a vanishing edge pool as in the shot below from Dedon. If I still have some room left in my garden, all my friends would be invited to try them out by now. So my wish is that some of my clients will appreciate their beauty so much that they can overcome the sticker shock in the tune of $12740 per pair, and for them I will be glad to help negotiate a discount of about 30%.
