I'm a Californian, so Oriental landscape principles aren’t new to me, but even I am surprised by how well they adapt to southern America. Those red doors look terrific, even on brick houses, and what yard wouldn't look better turned into a garden with water and bridges and interesting plants?
I am reminded of a brilliant Nisei landscaper named Ken, who worked with my stepmother years ago to create a garden centered around a huge boulder that he and a team of helpers had trucked about ninety miles, and dragged into her backyard. After a large variety of plants and mosses and shrubs were carefully placed, we thought the garden was finished. The helpers left, but Ken stood silently, shaking his head. Every day for a week, he came back and stood wordlessly, looking at the garden. Then he disappeared for a couple of days. When he came back again, he was carrying a small rock, about the size of a basketball. He set it near the boulder. It was obvious that he had made another 90-mile trek, because the stone matched perfectly.
"That's better," he said. "The big rock was lonely."
The houses in my neighborhood have benefited from the Feng Shui principles, but I'm enough of a chauvinist to feel that there is a certain kind of American Feng Shui which needs no help, and old Southern houses (not mansions, just houses) abound in it. Wide porches; shady settings; big windows; double chimneys; an abundance of shrubs like crape myrtle and azaleas and rhododendrons; large yards and deep set-backs from the streets; basements and attics and wonderful closets; all these and more seem pretty harmonious to me.
The most desirable home in our neighborhood, however, has nothing to do with Feng Shui or any other human principle. It isn't even a house. It’s a large, hollow tulip poplar tree, which stands down the hill about 10 feet from our living room. Our bay window is at eye-level with a hole in the trunk. It’s approximately 4 inches in diameter and about 15 feet above the ground.
In the last few years, we have observed that the tree has been home to several varieties of birds and squirrels, and one season there was honey dripping down the trunk because a swarm of bees decided to use it as a hive. The following year when the squirrels moved back, I wondered how they cleaned up the wax and honey which must have clung to the inside walls of the nest. Perhaps they had a great feast on moving day.
Last year, a little screech owl took up residence. We could watch it at the end of the day, sitting in the hole and planning its evening adventures. We'd stare at it and it would stare at us for awhile and then swoop out and away. We never saw any babies. We didn't even know whether the owl was male or female, or if perhaps there were two of them whom we saw at separate times.
The latest tenants are also birds. I haven't seen them, but I know they're there because the other day while I was watering the impatiens, I heard a great racket coming from the tree. Looking up, I saw a large blue jay clinging to the entrance, making threatening lunges toward the hole. There was a terrible racket coming from inside, squawks, screeches, cries of avian alarm. I tossed a dirt clod at the jay, and he flew off.
I haven't seen any activity since, but I hope the new family is still there. If they moved away to avoid more incidents with the blue jay, I'm sure it won't be long before some other creature moves in to enjoy the tree. It doesn't seem to need a little red door.
©Julia Sneden for SeniorWomen.com
Pages: 1 · 2
More Articles
- Ferida's Wolff's Backyard: The Snow Turned Into Snowy Rain As It Fell From The Trees. Still Lovely ...
- Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Awesome Goldfinches, Part of the Incredible Possibilities That Nature Might Offer
- Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Nature’s Jigsaw Puzzles
- Rebecca Louise Law: Awakening on View at Honolulu Museum of Art
- Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Dandelion Landing
- Ferida's Wolff's Backyard: A Nest!
- Veterans Health Care: Efforts to Hire Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists
- Ferida's Wolff's Backyard: Geese Coming Home
- Ferida Wolff Writes: This Holiday Season
- Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Lots and Lots of Boxelders