CARDINAL MOVES AND EXCERPT BONUS

AFTER SEVEN days with rain, the sun is back.. I can not imagine what a trip would be to have such a wet season for six months in a row, as it happens in other places.

Two pink Frangipanis propagated from seed went from the east side to the old cement round pots, a present from Don Miguel, in the north. Both trees are about a year old, measuring about two feet. They flank the handsome Dracaena in front of our decorative garage, since we prefer to park in across the street in front of the house.

The Ochna mossabicensis and Bauhinia tomentosa former residents, are now in the south side with a Bauhinia blakeana and Bixa orellana as new
garden mates. Some dwarf Ruellias were planted not far on the ground,
after the final eviction of the Wedelias and Bejucos, pain in the ass. A few
Wedelias are left in other areas but they are not a priority now. The compost pile was aerated and shredded newspapers added to increase volume and reduce humidity. Earthworms love them.

Another day, another rain. The sky looks pretty much as those autumn
days in the northeast of USA, Northampton comes to mind...At any rate,
I found a couple of paragraphs in a book mentioned recently.

THE BROTHER GARDENERS
Amy Wulf

In many ways, Thorndon was the first garden in which Enlightenment thinking found its visual expression. It was, as Collinson wrote, a garden based on "Hints Borrowed from Nature."
For centuries , high walls had excluded untamed nature from the garden, providing protection from the landscape beyond. Now, with the Enlightenment and man's growing knowledge of the natural world, gardeners embraced the idea of letting nature reign. Petre had planted his trees
and shrubs in such a way as to allow the visitor to think of them not as an object of singular delight but as an integral part of a larger landscape. He had followed Miller's advice that his plants should "appear accidental as in a natural Wood," and grow like "Spontaneous acts of
Nature." Clumps in the lawn like those at Thorndon created drifts of dense growth on the smooth grass, unlike the complex patterns of baroque gardens, which were better enjoyed from the windows of the first or second floor. Thorndon could only be appreciated by walking along its meandering gravel paths.

Petre had carefully tiered the trees and shrubs that lined these paths so that they rose in height, almost like seats in a theatre, the smallest flowers at the front, the largest trees at the rear. And
whereas, in the past gardens had been experiences just for the eyes, now they were for all senses.
Some of the flowers come so close to the path that the hooped petticoats of the women visitors brushed against them, releasing the fragrant scents of the blossom. And instead of motion less
rigid hedges that used to enclose parts of the garden like "Prison Walls," here at Thorndon the leaves dance to the maraca rhythm of the wind. Pages 93/94

IN Puerco Rico USA, these simple, ancient principles are IGNORED. The landscape architects/agronomist jerks are still in the DARK AGES. I have been wondering what is the great difficulty to understand this rule. A garden should look natural. Feel natural, appealing to all senses. I am sure in your country, many gardens have that stiff, with abundant overkill trimming/pruning also.

In endemismo I have mentioned a hundred times the ridiculous, absurd
garden installations all over the island, in public/private contexts. Costly to install and a pain in the ass to maintain. With these excerpts there should be no doubts. I did not pull the principle out of my sleeve. It seems that it has been there to be studied for two hundred years.

A few last words. I used to love the essence of the ZEN/Japanese/Chinese garden, however, it is exactly the contrary of what I practice/preach nowadays. From this gardening school I still enjoy those elements found in those rectangles with walls, with just white gravel/sand, raked in classical designs, rocks/stones placed accordingly and a few not stiff bushes in the classical/standard impair groupings, in total quiet to meditate or hang out. Time to go...