Archive for Garden as Metaphor

Miniature Mediation Gardens: Create Your Own Peace

17/01/2013 at 2:35 pm · Filed under D.I.Y. Ideas, Garden as Metaphor, Because it's fun, Miniature Garden Accessories, Indoor Mini Gardens ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Miniature Meditation Garden

Create a tiny garden place for calm reflection. It’s a gentle reminder to take a break and breathe – even if just for moment in the middle of your busy day.

Miniature Mediation Gardens: Create Your Own Peace

I wrote about about miniature prayer gardens back in September, 2011, and since then, we have enjoyed having a miniature buddha garden and a miniature gratitude garden in our office as a reminder to stop, breathe and say thanks.

Prayer, thoughtfulness, meditation, personal reflection, deep thought or quiet time – whatever your preference – are activities that seem to get missed in our busy lives. Having a simple reminder or a “place to go” can help nudge you to take a moment or two out of your day and align your thoughts and emotions so you can carry on with a clearer purpose.

Miniature Garden Engraved Heart Rock

Add a little love to your meditation garden with a simple miniature heart rock. Click the picture to take you to the details in the online store.

And a miniature garden is the perfect idea to help you do that.

Prayer garden, meditation garden, gratitude garden and peace garden are some of the general names that have come up. Miniature grotto, miniature altar, miniature zen garden start to get more specific as will the individual dieties that you can include in your mini garden, Madonna garden, Buddha garden. A candle, heart or a flower can also stand in for the focal point and symbolize whatever is needed. You can rotate the accessories in and out of your mini garden whenever you want so, as with all things miniature garden, never feel that it is a permanent, undoable decision. Give yourself some freedom to play with your different ideas.

We went over some general guidelines in the previous blog that will help you create a wee sanctuary to evoke peaceful mindedness and calm. Here’s a quick review:

  1. Lots of plants.
  2. Minimum clutter.
  3. Pathways can evoke flow. (Of breath, of calm flowing in, for example.)
  4. Focal point can help keep your thoughts focused.
  5. Include a spot to visually sit or kneel to inject yourself into the mini space.

Now you can start to go into a bit more detail as you now that you’ve spent some quality time with your little garden

Miniature Gratitude Garden

Our mini gratitude garden. A simple reminder to be grateful can change your thought process in a heart beat.

altars:

6. Tend to the garden. Maintain the health of your plants. Snip off any brown leaves or dead branches. Gently wash off the branches with a soft rag. Or give it a tepid shower with water* then gently wipe the leaves. (If you don’t wipe the leaves, you won’t get rid of the dust. Yes, I know, you may have a lot of leaves but this task in itself is very meditative. ;o)

7. Aerate the soil. Use a fork to break up the top layer of soil if it is crusty. Use a skinny dowel to poke into the soil, going right down into the pot, around the plant’s roots, to get some air down into the soil.

8. Wash and clean. Give your rocks, patios and accessories a wash or wipe. Use an old toothbrush and mild dish soap and give your accessories and furniture a bath. Sweep off the patio area or fluff and flatten out the gravel on the path and patio.

9. Water well. Put it all it all back together and water* until the water comes out of the drainage hole on the bottom. If you are miniature gardening indoors, put the miniature garden in the sink or tub to do this and let it drain before placing it back. (Make sure you have a sink filter/screen to catch and prevent any chunks of dirt from clogging up your plumbing.)

Miniature Prayer Gardens are very adaptable

Remember that you can swap out your focal point if you want to focus on another aspect of your life. You can change or add to it at any time. Click the picture to go to our Etsy store and see the possibilities.

10. Get specific. Use a direct symbol, figure, representation or icon that will direct your focus and attention exactly where you want it to go. Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, would direct your thoughts to clearing away your mental clutter. A pretty rock that says, “Thanks” is a direct reminder be grateful. A small figure of St. Francis will keep the Prayer of St. Francis in your thoughts. Interchange or swap out the accessories whenever you feel the need or to get refocused.

Miniature gardening is a very adaptable hobby that can be very personal, or shared and explored with others too. Arrange a workshop for your group or club to create a miniature garden altars, gratitude gardens or apply any of your group’s purpose to it. It’s a fun way to connect with others and you’ll get something purposeful and meaningful from it.

*Water from your taps – Let your tap water sit for a couple of hours before using it to water your plants so the chlorine can evaporate. Let the water come to room temperature too – as opposed to freezing cold water from outside. Your plants will thank you.

Here are some more ideas to get you started. The links will take you to either our online Miniature Garden Center or to

Miniature Garden with Madonna Figure

Miniature Madonna Figure for your prayer garden. Click the picture to see her up in the store.

our Etsy One of a Kind Store. Also visit the previous blog post on Miniature Prayer Gardens here.

Miniature Heart Rock

 

Madonna

St. Francis of Assisi

Buddha – Ceramic or Metal

Hindu Deities

Like this? Then you’ll love our monthly Mini Garden Gazette, it’s free. Join here.

 

 

Miniature Garden Plants & Accessories

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Create Your Own Vacation with Miniature Gardening

01/04/2012 at 2:51 pm · Filed under Because it's fun, D.I.Y. Ideas, Garden as Metaphor ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Reblogged from The Mini Garden Guru - Your Miniature Garden Source:

Click to visit the original post

A Garden For All: Create your own vacation

By Janit Calvo

December 17, 2008

Are you one of the many people that won't be able to take a vacation this year?

One of the numerous benefits of miniature gardening is the ability to recreate any garden theme quickly and easily. Escape the winter weather and create your own tropical get-away for either your home or office, or, why not do one for both.

Read more… 498 more words

It's been a cold, wet, gray spring here in Seattle. I remembered this little gem I wrote a few years ago... I'm going to Aruba in my mind!

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The Reluctant Miniature Gardener

03/07/2010 at 7:44 pm · Filed under Garden as Metaphor, The Business ·Tagged , , ,

The Garden Metaphor, acrylic painting by Yours Truly. 1997.

The Garden Metaphor, acrylic painting by Yours Truly. 1997.

My God, What Have I Done?

Sifting through the countless boxes during our big move over the last few weeks has made me realize just how many of my sculpture and painting ideas have been shelved to focus on this business of mine.

When I started Two Green Thumbs ten years ago, it was supposed to be a venue for my garden art and eclectic container plantings, not a Living Miniature Garden Center.

What happened?

Oh, ya, I think I can remember now…

After seeing my miniature gardens at the local street fairs and markets, people wanted to know how to make it themselves. They wanted to know where to get the right accessories, miniature plants that work, and authentic mini patios so they could play too.

But, ten years ago, there was nowhere to find any of these kinds of things.

So, I started TwoGreenThumbs.com in order to share my ideas and spread the joy of miniature gardening. I thought the challenge of starting a business would be a good lesson to learn and I really did want to.

But, the level sacrifice was completely unexpected.

Ten years ago, there were no miniature garden websites to tap for ideas and products – a luxury my competitors obviously have now. There was no website telling me what worked, and what didn’t.

There was nothing…

…only an artist, who was silly enough to start a national trend.

Now, if you’ll excuse me. It’s a holiday weekend. I’m burnt out. I’m going to find a paintbrush and my paints and throw something on a canvas before I completely loose it.

Have a happy 4th and a great Canada Day weekend – and remember to honor your own independence too.

Join the trend here.

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Garden as Metaphor: A Time to Heal

02/12/2009 at 7:49 pm · Filed under Garden as Metaphor ·Tagged ,

Plants can only do one thing at a time. When they do that one thing, they put all their energy into it.

Garden as Metaphor: A Time to Heal

By Janit Calvo
November 18, 2009

“How do you know the plant is established?”

That is one of the more common questions that I get asked when I teach beginner-gardeners about the joy of miniature gardening.

Did you know that plants can only do one thing at a time?

Have you ever seen a plant multi-task?

Visions of plants texting, doing the laundry, while simultaneously having a conversation and cooking dinner come to mind, but, that’s not what I mean.

Plants can only do one thing at a time. When they do that one thing, they put all their energy into it. They get it done so they can move on to the next thing on their agenda: rooting, growing leaves, flower and fruiting, going to seed, being dormant or dying.

While this is a very generalistic way of describing how plants grow, it’s basically what they need to do in order to survive.

Why don’t we do that?

When I fell sick late last week, I didn’t stop. I kept on going. Oh, sure, I felt okay, but I wasn’t getting better – I was maintaining. I was multi-tasking.

Then I got sicker.

“Alright,” I said to myself, “I’ll check out for a day.”

Then the phone started ringing and the orders were flowing in…. I called my helper/buddy in. We got some stuff taken care of, but I didn’t get the rest that I desperately needed.

If I had stopped and healed when I first felt sick, I would be much better off today.

Now, that said, I’m thankful that the global economy does not rest on Two Green Thumbs Miniature Garden Center, and I can take a couple of hours here or a day or two there….

But perhaps I should have acted more like a plant.

(Answer: You can tell the plant is established when you see new top growth. That is how you know the roots are finished growing for now, and the plant’s energy has shifted to growing leaves.)

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Garden as Metaphor: Roses will always bloom again.

28/10/2009 at 6:23 pm · Filed under Customer Interaction, Garden as Metaphor ·Tagged , , , ,

 

Even in October, my roses are blooming again.

Even in October, my roses are blooming again.

Garden as Metaphor: Roses will always bloom again

By Janit Calvo
October 27, 2009

It has been a great pleasure, over these last few years, to meet fellow gardeners throughout the world via the Internet. Without this wonderful Worldwide Web, I probably wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now.

Every so often, one of my blog posts, or my wacky product ideas attract someone who wouldn’t necessarily be interested in miniature gardening per se, but the cute idea, or the new item, shows up on their radar, and a door is opened.

Last month, I had the opportunity to speak with Lynette – a cloche collector in California. It was my Mini Moss Terrarium blog that did it, she saw the wee cloches and they were a must for her collection and thus emails started.

And Lynette always ended her emails with “Roses will always bloom again.”

My roses were still blooming in September when we were emailing back and forth, so I commented at one point, that my roses were, in fact, blooming again. I then got the unique chance to hear the story behind Lynette’s signature line.

This fit in perfectly with my ‘Garden as Metaphor’ theme that I’ve been gradually adding to over the years. This is in Lynette’s words – I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, want to even try to rewrite this.

Thank you very much, Lynette for sharing. I know this will bring hope to whomever needs it – and it’ll always be a quote to remember during the heaviest days that life can bring:

The Rose Story

My German neighbor was 4 years old during World War II and her father was fighting in France. She and her sister, who was 5, lived with their mother and their mother’s parents in Northern Germany.

There were many air raids during the conflict, which sent all the townspeople to a large building in the center of town. They would hasten to the basement of this building and wait until the ‘all clear’ sirens would blow.

On one particular night, the fighting was fierce. England was dropping bombs from planes roaring down through the area. It was night and again, the townspeople ran to the safety in the building.

My neighbor and her sister were terrified.

The town had suffered much destruction and rubble was everywhere. The explosions and screaming of bombs and planes and gunfire all around was too much to bear.

My neighbor’s mother, sensing the unbelievable trauma her little girls were experiencing, kneeled down in the darkness of the basement sanctuary, pulled her little girls close to her and with her hands cupping their tear-streaked faces, promised them that it was all going to be okay …. roses will always bloom again.

In the last three years, we lost our 20 year business, my father died, my best friend died, I had emergency surgery and my husband nearly died in January of a horrible staph infection in his knee. Forty-five days in the hospital and our beloved Chihuahua died in my arms while he was in the hospital.

That same German neighbor left a small glass vase on my doorstep filled with about 10 rosebuds and a note taped to the vase, “Roses will always bloom again.”

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Garden as metaphor: Room to Grow

15/09/2009 at 5:53 pm · Filed under Garden as Metaphor, Life-sized Gardening ·Tagged , , , ,

Helianthus x. muliflorus, or a perennial Sunflower. It never bloomed until it was planted in the ground this past spring.

Helianthus x. muliflorus, or a perennial Sunflower. It never bloomed until it was planted in the ground this past spring.

By Janit Calvo
September 3, 2009

Don’t you just love it when the garden collides with life’s metaphors?

I knew I liked this plant – I just couldn’t remember why.

I had a perennial in a container grouping for the past six years that never bloomed and never got taller than one foot. I completely forgot what it was supposed to be but, for some reason, I didn’t relegate it to the compost bin either.

Then, last spring, I had to break up the pot and release the perennials into the garden bed. The plant in question adjusted quickly, and eventually came out of hiding and – surprise – it bloomed.

I now remember why I kept it. It’s a Helianthus x. multiflorus. In other words, it’s a variety of Sunflower, and sunflowers are just one of my favorites. (Actually, this is why I’m a plantaholic – I like pretty much like anything that blooms. Dangerous.)

And the metaphor?

If life is a garden, give yourself enough room for your roots to grow, or you won’t bloom.

Some plants love being in containers and can stay there for years and years before needing more room. I have a little Mugo Pine that has been in a tiny pot for about five years and never, ever complains.

They don’t mind having their roots confined, which is why they make great plants for bonsai.

But some plants need room for their roots to grow or they won’t be at their finest like my Helianthus. Despite being in a fairly large pot, it still didn’t have enough room for the roots and kept to itself, bided its time, stayed alive, only grew to half its height and never showed a flower for years.

Guess I should have looked it up before putting it in a container.

Some people do well in a condominium downtown, living in huge buildings that reach for the sky, where people are literately compartmentalized into their living quarters. I do envy them to a certain extent.

No weeding and mowing to do, they just enjoy their lives and have the whole downtown as a playground that is just outside their front door.

Other people need a lot of space around them, fields to plant in and crops to sow and reap. And some of us just need a little garden to tend and a place to grow some veggies – and maybe a miniature garden or three.

Now, are you giving yourself enough room to grow?

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Garden as Metaphor

05/04/2009 at 1:08 am · Filed under Garden as Metaphor, The Business ·Tagged , , , , ,

A stately looking Canada Hemlock 'Jervis' - in a miniature garden.

A stately looking Canada Hemlock 'Jervis' - in a miniature garden.

Garden as Metaphor: The life span of trees.

By Janit Calvo
February 13, 2009.
Have you ever loved a tree? A huge, stately tree that has always been there. You admire it every time you see it, and secretly resist the urge to stop and climb it. Or, maybe to just sit on it’s branch-like-arms, even if just for a little while, and let its majesty soak in.

And then, one day, it’s gone.

Most times, you never had a clue it was close to the end of its life span – it was just always there. You can see the stump and the fresh sawdust still on the ground, and all that’s left above is big sky. You may go by in a few days to see the stump has been ground down even further, preparations made for something new.

We have a similar thing happening in our garden community here in Seattle. The Northwest Flower and Garden Shows have always been there – or it seemed so. After 21 years of bringing the big show to our fair city, the owner is taking his ball and going home, even if he can’t find any buyers.

But, unlike that big tree that was gone all of a sudden, we now have a chance to pay homage, to visit with, to spend some time reveling in the magic created by many. We have time to still be a part of it, and to say, “I was there, and I saw it.”

In George Ball’s blog, Heronswood Voice, (you remember the guy that bought the famous Heronswood Gardens), when commenting on our show’s demise, he states that “A 5-day, 60,000 attendee gardening exposition is kaput.” This could very well be true – but then he doesn’t live in the Evergreen State either. And, if this Show doesn’t go away, it will change at the very least.

So, go to the Northwest Flower & Garden Show next week. Take in the huge display gardens, and peruse the plant market to see all the green. Spend some time at a seminar that might interest you. Say hi to Seattle’s only professional miniature gardener (me) in booth #2420 ;-) . You know, take it all in and enjoy it.

Because even if you are not a gardener, you’ll still be able to say, years from now, “I remember when…”

Visit Janit’s Web site; http://www.TwoGreenThumbs.com. Her online store is http://www.shop.TwoGreenThumbs.com. info@TwoGreenThumbs.com, 206-352-0494.

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Garden as metaphor – are you hardy?

26/03/2009 at 3:50 am · Filed under Garden as Metaphor ·Tagged , , ,

The "winter blush" on this Hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold') is absolutely stunning, and only comes with prolonged cold temperatures seldom seen here in Seattle.

The "winter blush" on this Hinoki (Chamaecyparis obtusa 'Fernspray Gold') is absolutely stunning, and only comes with prolonged cold temperatures seldom seen here in Seattle.

Garden for All: Garden as metaphor – are you hardy?

By Janit Calvo
January 16, 2009

Now Seattleites can get a really good idea on which plants are hardy enough to withstand Mother Nature’s less-than-occasional wrath.

We’ve had several extremes in the course of one month here in Washington State: freezing temperatures, heavy snow, drenching rains and whipping wind. This kind of weather is not entirely unlike our current economic climate, and for some, it came on just as fast.

Walking around my garden, I can only hope that some of my more fragile plants come back to me when the weather warms up in spring. I’ve nurtured several fuchsia baskets through not-so-hardy winters before, but this year, I’m not so sure. (And my poor young Abutilon! I vowed to take care of you!) I’ll wait for them just the same and see if they come back.

I might be surprised again, but it doesn’t look good this time.

If you’ve been following me through my Web site and newsletters for the past few years, you’ll know that I often use the garden as a metaphor for life. This east coast weather on the west coast has brought on another: Life is a garden, be sure to nurture your plants until the roots are established.

This metaphor brings up the inevitable question, exactly when are plants established enough in the landscape to be able to maintain themselves?

The general rule of thumb is varied because it really depends on the plant. Some root faster than others, and these can be planted in the spring, to be established by the fall.

Others take longer, some much longer. Many trees, for example, take at least one full year to grow their long taproot down while sending the smaller branching roots to brace itself in the earth. And there are a few plants that take even longer to adjust.

In theory, when you see new top growth, you then know that the plant is rooted and ready to grow. But, until that plant is established, it will need outside help, and the right kind of help, too; not too much water, or too much sun, but just enough to keep it happy. (Perhaps the children’s tale should have been called “Goldilocks and the Three Plants”).

All plants are different, each have their individual needs and require the right proportion of water and nutrients. Careful observance during this transition time is necessary, and the bigger, and older the plant being transplanted, the more care it will need to become acclimatized to its new surroundings. Sound familiar?

Then, when the plant is firmly established, it should be able to survive the various forms of climate changes. Still sound familiar?

Now, apply the metaphor. Are your roots established enough to weather extremes?

Visit Janit’s Web site; http://www.TwoGreenThumbs.com. Her online store is http://www.shop.TwoGreenThumbs.com. info@TwoGreenThumbs.com, 206-352-0494.

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