David, thank you so much for posting your beautiful pics! Awe inspiring project you have accomplished. Everything looks lovely. You will motivate me not to give up on tackling the weedy mess I have in my yard where it juts up against the neighbors. I have tried to make it into a shade garden, but sometimes it seems like more than I can do, I have 350 yards on each side that is full of garlic mustard. While getting it out again this year, I will keep your garden in my head, and picture a woodsy wonderland. Drema

Kathi, yes, they're nicotiana. Last year I planted nicotiana Aztec, just one plantÂan impulse buy at the farmer's market. It reseeded this year. I don't know if Aztec is a hybrid, but this year's plants are the same white, at least. I was going to add a few more pictures, but I just put them in the Gallery, where I guess these should have gone in the first place. Sorry about that! But happy to meet everyone. Susan

I wrote in the "what goes into a Japanese Garden thread several days ago, but new threads buried that one. Here is what I wrote: What goes into Japanese Gardens? "Thought. Lots of thought. It is not the "what", but it is the "how". We've all seen empty fields of gravel a small grouping of rocks that look wonderful. I'd suggest that it is neither the gravel or rocks that will duplicate the success of the garden. It is how they are placed and balancing of the mass of rocks against the expanse of gravel, negative space vs. positive space, etc, ... I'd suggest that it is not the stone lantern that is inspiring in the garden, but the mass and texture of it balanced against everything around it. My belief is that there is simply a different approach to balance that is the basis of Japanese gardens. It is the ability to balance with unlike objects, forms, color, and texture. Sometimes only one or two of these are present, but sometimes all of them and more are. The ability to assess the visual weight of these things and then to use that qualitative judgement to form compositions that on a whole are very balanced and restful is what I think is at the heart of it. Think about acheiving balance between a 2 ton boulder and feathers. Once that is done, throw in a tree. Do you need to move the rock? Maybe add or take away some feathers? Somehow the equivalent is done in the many forms Japanese gardens take that I can recall. The cultural icons certainly make a link that everyone will recognize, but a Japanese garden can be recognized without a lantern, bamboo, or a moon gate. I would also suggest that the presence of those items does not a Japanese garden make. I'm not trying to cause a firestorm as it seems from reading some posts there has been problems with that. That is just my take on what the "thing" is about Japanese gardens. Some are extremely complicated with all kings of plant forms, sizes, texture, and color (sometimes lots of contrasting color). There may be dramatically undulating landform. There can be water, stone, and wood structures. But it seems that no matter what they have whether simple or complex, it is always restful because it is always balanced. Our Western cultures tend to lean much more heavily on symetry and/or geometry for balance. We are taught to see numbers, size, and distance to counteract each other. They, the masters of Japanese gardens, apparently see more than that and use it.

I know what you mean about staying away from the hosta forum when my hostas are still hiding. It usually just make me even more sad to see hostas up and about when I know mine are usually at least a month behind. I think I suffer from hosta depression during the winter;) Atlantis has been a very fast growing hosta for me. It's in the Abba Dabba family, which for the most part are fast growing. Jen