The "sea"

     Almost all public Japanese gardens, in Japan and elsewhere, have a small area of raked gravel or sand.  Its purpose is to represent waves on a sea, with rocks and vegetation representing islands.  I used pea gravel when I constructed mine some 20 years ago.

 

Spring is here--I think.

Note: I would like to ask a favor of those who visit my blog.  Because I cannot tell how many of my "visits" are real people or "bots" (computer-driven searches), please leave me a comment (such as, "real person," also telling me what country you live in--no name required).  Thank you for your help.

   I must be careful.  On May 10, 1990 I had nine inches of heavy snow, which destroyed many of my trees, as their leaves were fully formed.  Fingers crossed!  I live in SE Wisconsin.  When living in Madison in 1966, the area had a hard frost in low spots--on July 2nd.  That was absurd!

   This area is on the back left side of my backyard.  In 2019 I reduced the size of the lawn by a third, allowing me to build perennial gardens on all sides.  I am still tweaking the plantings.  The main plant shown here, with yellow flowers, is Lamiastrum galebdolon, or Yellow Archangel.  It requires mostly shade to deep shade, and it vigorously spreads by stolons.  It takes diligence to keep it under control.

   The stones are quarried sandstones from the late 1800s that were used in the streets of Milwaukee.  I collected 3000 of them, free of charge (but lots of work and hauling!).