Maple garden????

Since the longest day has come and gone, one might hope for some good weather.  Well some has finally come, at least one day’s worth.  Well actually the weather has recently gotten better, but I am still hoping for the day when wearing shorts is a normal activity.

But the plants don’t seem to mind too much, especially in the Koi Garden.  As my blog readers will know, Maples are a favorite in Japanese gardens.  I have reviewed the bible of Japanese Maples: Japanese Maples by Vertrees in earlier posts.  We have even posted about bringing Maples inside for a piece of the garden during the winter.  But don't think for a minute that they will stay that small; they will grow very fast, and will require pruning. Of course even the dwarf maples will require trimming to keep their shape.   Of course we cannot show all the Maple trees I have trimmed this year, because, ahhh, they were all the neighbors trees and I disposed of the evidence immediately; and forget before and after pictures.....   So IXNA on the  ECRETESA.  LOL.

Still, I thought it would be nice to post some photos of the maples in my garden.

Birds and Bees in the Koi Garden

We have had many visitors to the Koi Garden so far this year.  Many family members have visited us and stopped by to see the happenings. 

But we have also had visitors of a smaller variety:  The Birds and the Bees have come to the Koi Garden; literally!!!!

One of the later additions in the last few years has been a very nice “Goldenchain” tree (Laburnum).  While not a tree that normally is found in Japanese or Chinese gardens, I just love the cascading flowers every Spring.  It makes for nice photos, both close up and further away.  And with all those flowers, the trees have become magnets for both Bumble Bees and Hummingbirds.  Both of these are welcome visitors!!!

Another of the visitors has set up residence.  A small bird has moved into one of the bird houses built from license plates.   The bird house was placed behind the Goldenchain tree and close by both water and bird feeders;  a pretty smart bird!!!  While we have heard no chirping coming from the bird house yet, there is quite a lot of movement in and out, with one bird bringing lots of food in.  I am speculating that his partner is in the house tending to the eggs.  I will keep you informed re and new inhabitants of the Koi Garden in upcoming weeks.

Out & About in the Koi Garden Neighborhood

Keeping Koi is a popular hobby in Seattle.

Many people keep Koi ponds, some of them hidden, throughout the neighborhoods. There are probably countless people keeping Koi in aquariums as well. Those hobbyists will also probably end up having a small pond in the future as their Koi outgrow their glass enclosures.

Up until now, I have shown many photos of the Koi Garden. However, in the future I intend to show other ponds as well, both private and public. Some will be formal, public Japanese Gardens, while others will be personal ponds. This is one of those.

This pond, which belongs to my neighbor Miss M., is an older pond, with some beautiful boulders, rocks and older, established plantings. Maples, pines and ferns can all be seen in the picture below.

You’ll also notice that the water is perfectly clear and it is so without a filter system. That is one of the signs of a well designed pond. For this pond, it is probably due to the larger size and fewer fish in addition to the substantial shade, inhibiting the green water growth.

One of the beautiful features of this garden is the graceful bridge, a common element of more traditional Japanese gardens.

And of course, no pond tour is complete without at least one picture of its inhabitants. And these lucky fish will have lots of room to grow in the years ahead.

I hope you enjoyed seeing Miss M’s garden as much I do.

Peeping Tom

I had written earlier about the Raccoons that frequent the neighborhood. Well, where there was one, there are now many. The earlier visitor has now built a family of four or five, but I get ahead of myself.

One night this week we heard a few sounds from the Koi Garden and wondered what they were. We had thought it might be a neighbor rustling around his yard?; Maybe a late night party in the other neighbor’s yard?; Looking out the window of the third story of our townhome, we looked through the branches of the plum and pear trees that line the Koi Garden, straining our eyes to see someone on the ground below, first in one neighbor’s yard, then the next... Nothing…

As I was about to give up, I changed my focus and slowly noticed something much closer. Not ten feet out my window, at my own level high above the ground, I saw the reflections of two small eyes looking directly at me. They belonged to a small Raccoon, sitting in the tree. The plum and pear trees are full of good pickings this time of year and the Raccoon was taking advantage of a bounty. That was what this chap was doing, sitting there eating a pear.

I thought about trying to take a picture of the interloper from the bedroom, but decided against it since I would need a flash, and the window between us would make that impossible. I then ventured outside into the Koi Garden to catch the bandits red handed from there. That’s where the photography problems began.

When I left the house, camera in hand, the motion sensitive flood lights made their presence known; first at the parking strip and then in the Koi Garden. Each of them is set to turn flood lights on when motion occurs in their space. And flood lights they are. Those four lights have enough brightness to almost blind a person, especially when you are trying to maintain night vision to see our little noise makers. Every time I moved they would go off, thereby blinding me for the next few minutes. I tried to stay motionless to not upset either the motion detector or the raccoons. That did not work, especially when I was trying to get the camera adjusted to take a shot in the dark.

Consequently I was only able to get this photo. It shows only one of the four pairs of reflected eyes. The rest of the family of interlopers is as yet unrecorded.

For the non believers out there I have added an additional photo of the cast-offs of a delightful night of fruit for the poachers.

I am certain I will get additional opportunities for proof of this family of bandits as there are plenty of plums, cherries and pears still ripe for them to enjoy.

Competition with the Koi Garden

Can’t hold a good bloom back

Despite Seattle’s best wishes, warmer weather was bound to happen, and it has.
With the cold winter and delayed warmer weather, it was pushed off for a while. But when the warmer weather came, even for a weekend, the flowers and leaves take the opportunity to pop. And pop they do.

In the Koi Garden, we have two Maples, a nice smaller lace leaf, and a beautiful coral bark maple. A few weeks ago, both had leaves were just a bunch of small buds, but now they are open and beautiful.

There is also a weeping cherry on the south side of the Koi Garden that has popped. Photographing Cherries are a game of chance in Seattle. Because the entire branches of the Cherries don’t bloom at the same time, one strong rain can knock the flowers off the branches. I took these flowers a few hours before the next downpour occurred.

For these photos, I have moved the F Stop as far down as possible, and kept the background far away. This leads to the out of focus feel and nice bokeh of the background. The depth of field is really only a few millimeters with these photos. I have also switched the auto focus off to allow me to focus on the exact part of the leaf that I want to.

Expect to spend some trial shots as any breeze will move these enough to loose the focus.
With digital cameras, this is no issue, and, in fact should be part of your technique. Just take a lot more photos and expect to spend more time culling out focus and unacceptable photos.

Popping in the Spring

The Koi Garden makes use of a lot of plants associated with Japanese gardens. Cherry trees, Maples and Heathers are all part of the mix. I especially like the lace leaf and dwarf varieties of the Maples. Also the Coral Bark Maple is especially striking. The red bark seems to get more intense when the winter is a cold one. We also have a section exclusively of Roses, including some ground cover roses. For the vertical spaces, we have a few varieties of Akebia (Deep Purple, Purple Rose and Silver Bells). I have been told that putting multiple varieties of Akebia together allows for them to generate sweet fruit that can be used for Jams. I will try to focus on each of those as they start coming into their fancy time. This early in the season, we have some pretty Pieris. Look for some close up of the nice bells.

I am also trying to learn about and try some varieties of Bonsai plants. Look for some write ups about those efforts in the future.

This shot is a picture of the buds on a Weeping Cherry we have on the border of the garden. I am expecting some really nice shots of these in the upcoming days as this Cherry blooms.

The Flowering Pieris provide a nice close up opportunity. I have used a low F Stop for a shorter field of vision. This blurs the background of anything only a few feet behind the subject. This technique is great for photography in city gardens and especially fun when you want to highlight small things these delicate bells.

Mediterranean Heather provides a nice purple pop of color at the ground level. Due to the frost damage this winter, we have culled some of the plants that had problems with the freezing temperatures. This has allowed us to add more of these beauties. Again, move the F Stop down and have some fun with the blurred backgrounds.

This shot is of a Coral Barked Maple. It is about 7 or 8 feet tall but still in a larger pot we have located near the Koi pond. We hope to get a few more years of life of this tree in a larger pot. If we move to another place, we can bring this tree along with us. If not, we will have to rearrange the Koi Garden to find a place for this favorite. This particular variety has some gorgeous, delicate leaves that I will highlight in future sessions.

Raccoon eyes in my garden

We have had many visitors at our KoiGarden. In addition to a industrious band of Squirrels and an occasional Heron, we have had an eagle come by and investigate the pond. But perhaps the most interesting visitor we have had in the KoiGarden was a mysterious Raccoon. This visitor is not easy to see, visiting in the early hours of the day. In fact, it took us a long time to be certain that we had gotten on his circuit.

At the time we found many shredded Lily pads and nervous fish. The Raccoons also delighted in ripping the netting we had over the pond. But there was no permanent damage. Like humans Raccoons don’t like to bellyflop into water, so your first action in the fight against the goggle-eyed marauders is to have sharp edges to your pond. Also placing a net over the pond is a fairly good deterrent. But this is not perfect, as in our case. The flexible netting is the most transparent, but also the easiest to get around, as in the case of our wily visitor. Raccoons have quite sharp teeth and can make easy handy work with the light netting. Even if they do get into your pond, giving the fish a hiding place at the bottom will be quite helpful. A series of cement pipe sections can serve the need quite well, depending on the size of your fish.


After finding the netting ripped many mornings, we built a pond cover composed of metal netting and a wood frame for easy movement and structural integrity. And that was how we finally saw our four legged bandit of the wilderness world. Actually, we heard him at first. Shaking a large metal screen at 4 in the morning is not too quiet. But despite all his efforts, he was not able to get into the pond. By sneaking out to investigate, we finally saw our menace and his failure to get around our latest defenses. In the spring, Raccoons spend most of their food finding efforts finding following a circuit. Once their food searching circuit is set, they will keep it for a while. So we have been lucky in using the metal screen in the winter and early in the spring. Then we can remove the screen and enjoy easier visibility and access to our water friends.