A Garden within a Garden

Are you well rested after our stroll through the Mt. Coot-tha Botanic Gardens yesterday? Ready to cross the stepping stones with me? A small, serene garden beckons and it's my favourite place to sit, be still, listen, think and wish within the wider expanse of these much larger gardens. Come with me into the Japanese Garden...

Stepping stones over a little stream.

I do not know very much about this ancient style of garden design but I know how this garden makes me feel. Quiet. Calm. Contemplative. It's a feeling cultivated by the way that the plants, water, stones, bridges and buildings within this garden are so deliberately placed to achieve balance. At every turn, beautiful views await...

 Reflections on the water.

Looking through the trees.

 A carefully sculpted feature tree.

The vibrant blooms of the crepe myrtle.

Another vibrant bloom. Orange this time!

A trickling waterfall. 

A full stone water basin.

Can you hear the water basin filling with a trickle from the bamboo pipe? My boy, much younger than he is now, would float leaf boats and azalea petals in it. He'd choose a heavy stone to put in too, only to put it down again when my head signaled a "No" instead of a "Yes!" I'm sure he would've loved to drop one in (and I'm sure he did many a time when I wasn't watching!) just to hear the "plop" as it hit the surface.

My beautiful boy and I have spent many an hour here together. When he was so much smaller than he is now, we'd share a picnic lunch in the shade, after his mornings at a nearby kindy and before a long drive home. It's the perfect place to picnic; to watch what hovers above the lake, flits about in the trees or makes its presence boldly felt in the hope you'll drop a crumb or two (those cheeky lizards!).

My son spotted this lizard. Can you?

It's the perfect place to come to too if you want an experience of the harmony that a garden can bring. I'll leave you here for a while then, to soak up that peacefulness, shall I? 

Meg

p.s. Enjoy your weekend. We have a special boy's birthday to celebrate and a lawn to mow. It's great weather for grass here where I live!