By the time you've boiled the water, steeped the tea and settled in for a cup, the mad impulse has probably been modified, and you can mull the next course of action with a bit of milk and honey. Sit, survey, contemplate and plan. (didn't peek at Amazon)

I like that creatrix.

Did peek at Amazon and that's a "must read" for me. I won't explain why, as that might spoil the fun, but many, many thanks Ink, for leading me to this book.

Diane

not reading amazon, I'm guessing: Take your time, think things over, have a cup of tea. I'm guessing slowing down to have a cup of tea while you think things over, might make you change your plans somewhat. (says gotta garden as she sips her morning tea and does her cyber gardening while a blizzard rages outside.)

Ink,
The savy landscaper recognizes "that we all have a garden within us". We sense this (or at least I have) often when a customer is in a period of stress. They appear with the demand to landscape, to plant beauty, to bring order to their property hoping in a subtle way that this will help their distress. Often the problem is never discussed. It is sensed by the landscaper. In my case I often knew the stressful problem as it was spashed all over the newspapers. (Note: That's the book I am unable to write, Ink.) Many times a landscaper is called upon to be a pyschologist, to try to uncover the 'garden inside' the client and design it. Often there are postings on this Forum which indicate that something is going on in the life of the questioner. There is one running right now on this page. How I wish I were wordsmith enough to reach across the ether and help them discover the inner garden for which they search. Instead I urge a consultation with a designer, hoping they will spend the dollars and find direction. This is probably not the answer you were seeking, Ink. So be it.

Does the garden unveiled by the tea-cup differ from that unveiled by the wine glass? We've discussed the wine-glass garden here in years past...

She saw one of those teacups with flowers and herbs painted on it and decided to become a gardener?

I'm on a different train of thought than the rest so far. I was immediately struck by the juxtaposition of the words Power and Teacup. Strength and Delicacy. So -- the power of delicacy?

For example: I have read that mugs are much more common for both tea and coffee drinking than teacups these days, at least in the US. One reason for this may be that the teacup's refinement - the translucency of its porcelain, the fineness of its graceful handle, the elegance of its decoration - encourages, even sometimes forces a refinement of posture, of speech, even perhaps of thought, when one is holding it -- or even beholding it.

In this way, a teacup also alludes to the strength of self-mastery.

Not feeling particluarly at home in the modern world, I am looking for a garden with something of the same power as the teacup. (Disclaimer: I, too, drink my tea out of a mug; though a smallish, hand-painted Deruta mug my brother brought me from Italy. I guess I don't quite feel at home with teacups, either. Though I sometimes wish I did.)

Some interesting thoughts, both on the quotation and the book title. Nandina, the beauty of a question like this is that ALL answers are right answers. I don't think it is a coincidence that a garden features so heavily in poetic and religious imagery; paradise is a garden. I also think that the garden within us is a feeling connected with memories and dreams, this is what we need to get in touch with, perhaps over a powerful cup of tea.

I'm thinking of that saying "bread and water can so easily be toast and tea". Life (and gardening) is not just a matter of how you look at it, but what kind of effort you put into it.

And now, I'm going to Amazon to see what the book is *really* about.

It reminds me of a great zen master that always told his students go drink tea when they inquired about enlightment.

We often think that great strides must be taken to achieve our very best .. in fact to do our best we must simply be ourselves .. in meditation one is not achieving some special state but returning to a very simple basic or original state the place where we are most creative... where we are ourselves and can give the most to others and unleash our inner garden.

Simply drink tea .. a whack of a hammer .. the snipping of of a branch can bring us back to ourselves.

Good Day ...

For some reason this phrase has been banging around in my brain since you posted it. There is an inescapable human tendency to interpret things through one's own frame of reference, be they fine china teacups, a lingering glance from a member of the interesting sex (I was going to say 'opposite sex' but I don't want to leave anyone out), or satellite photos of buildings in the desert. Looking into the tea leaves gathered in the bottom of your cup, do you see a garden, a NASCAR race, a voluptuous woman, or WMDs? Perhaps you see what you want to see, perhaps you find what you seek.

But I do love the bread & water becoming toast and tea, that's wonderful. A little effort can make such a change.

Well said catkim ..

"a lingering glance from a member of the interesting sex "

This is the problem I had in Oahu last week ... every time I get a lingering glance from a young lady at the beach I figured she can't resist me but my wife keeps reminding me " .. you must remind her of her father !!"

Good Day ...

Well...at least you did not conjure up memories of the girl's grandfather! Odd that a book about a lady that paints tea cups would generate so many responses on a Landscape Design forum.

- Brent

Spotlight on Brent >>>>>>>

I know nothing about this book but you can come to me anyway. lol

Look what the Japanese did around a cup of tea. It starts so small........

Maybe I would have been better off if I had not read the overview at Amazon to know that the book really IS about teacups. Then I could think about enjoying a cup of tea or a mug of coffee on the patio while the rising sun glistened in the ornamental grasses and the drops of dew sparkled on the rose flowers. Or maybe I would think about the companionship that my wife shares with her friends while they sip tea, converse and snack while the kids beat each other up in the other room.

Okay, it sounds like the book about more than just teacups...it is about passion, artistry and emotion. I do like the quote in the review that says "Kaplan...conveys her emotional connection to this art and the peace it has brought her."

- Brent

You can still enjoy your cup of coffee in a 'teacup' garden.

Being literal minded, that was the first thing that came to my mind when thinking about a connection between teacups and gardens.

Well, as I am philosophically minded, why wouldn't a cup of coffee type of person have a coffee cup garden? Too speedy?

A couple of years ago, I was sorting through some hand written recipes of my great-grandmother's. At the top of one of the pieces of paper are written the words 'of course you know the difference between a coffee cup and a tea cup'. I'm not sure I do. Empty, before the decision has been made as to what particular liquid is to be poured into the cup, is there a difference? Then there is the undiscussed option of something like hot chocolate.

"of course you know the difference between a coffee cup and a tea cup" is a rhetorical question and eccentric old lady territory, I love your great grandmother and her hand written recipes. As I said, I have a philosophical turn of mind and I think if you were to spend some time considering the difference between the empty cups rather than what they are full of you may get closer to the wisdom of your great grandmother. Perhaps the power of the teacup.

"...spend some time considering the difference between the empty cups rather than what they are full of..."

Now that's getting the wheels turning Ink. I think that's what I'm discovering in this forum... Look at the empty cup (yard) and consider the difference between the empty cups (the difference in the layout and or function of other yards that appeal to me) rather than what they are full of (what plants, etc. are in them) and you may get closer to the wisdom of your great grandmother (understand better what educated landscape designers are talking about).

"of course you know the difference between a coffee cup and a tea cup" - are there no bakers and cooks here? Before measuring cups and spoons recipes would list things like "a tea cup of flour." A tea cup is smaller than a coffee cup. Fine china sets always came with both. So you could ruin a recipe if you used the wrong cup. What I haven't figured out is what the recipe meant when they said butter the "size of a walnut" Is that in the shell, or out? In the big green husk or out?

As you already know, measurements that compare unlike items like that are telling you to use a similar amount of mass. My Grandma taught me that "Butter the size of an egg" meant an amount of butter similar in mass to the size of the eggs your using. (I blush to I recall my first thought on that one was whether I was supposed to carefully measure the butter in a cracked eggshell...)

I'm guessing it means english walnut as opposed to the native black walnut. In the shell, no big green husk - just like you would buy them in the store.

I love all this dialogue on my book written in 2003!!! I just came across this thread and was really touched