Kishkindha Bonsai Garden

This post is for those plant lovers  who will agree, when I say that growing healthy lush green plants is an art and one needs to invest tremendous time and energy to have  beautiful and well maintained greens.

Now, when it comes to Bonsai, the effort and patience required just doubles up. And therefore when I visited a Bonsai Garden recently I was left dumb found!
Bonsai is the art of involving miniaturizing plants and growing them in pots or trays.
'Bon' means tray and 'sai' means tree.It is said that this art took its root in China and then came to Japan.
Interestingly, there is also a mention of a miniature forest in the Ramayana.It is the 'Kishkindha Vana’ developed by Dadhimukha, the maternal uncle of King Sugriva. Kishkindha was the name of a mountain. The word is also used to signify ‘a narrow space’, or  ‘a compact space’.
These are the snippets from the information board that I read at Kishkindha Bonsai garden Mysore.

The Bonsai Garden is a part of the SGS Ashrama and has an exquisite collection of more than 450 carefully shaped and aesthetically pleasing miniaturized trees.

Come on, let me not make you wait...Join me on this Bonsai garden tour.

I noticed that  trees like ficus, peepal, banana, jade, gooseberry,tamarind, drumstick etc were developed into Bonsai. The shape, size and the form of these Bonsai trees were amazing.Over a period of time with due human intervention these trees were no less than a masterpiece!

For trees to form a Bonsai it takes good to around 40-50 years. Fruit bearing trees like these gooseberries looked stunning with their bushy appearance.

What do you think about this beauty? It is a drumstick tree.It somehow looks like a deer with a horn to me.
Then, on  display were a variety of Jade plants.You can see in one of these images how the stem have been passed through a spiral spring like tube and as the stem develops it will follow a similar pattern

 Not only the Bonsai, but the entire garden was well landscaped.I could even gather few tips that i can follow even in my small terrace garden.

Tip : Place small figurines in and around your green space.It immediately enhances the look of your space. They can be small idols of your favourite Gods or say a laughing Buddha

Notice how skillfully and aesthetically a small Ganesha has been placed within the hollow space of the stem with a stair leading to Him. Interesting isn't it?

 Tip: You can combine plants in a single tray or pot.When you do so let it be a combination of a bushy plant and a long one. Adds drama to the entire set up.

Again a jaw dropping tangled beauty!!! I could simply be there,do nothing and spend hours if not for the time restrictions

Tip: Place an idol / figure in the pot and manoeuvre the plant around it, just like in the image above.Again, it creates oodles of drama!

Have you heard about the Japanese concept of Wabi-Sabi. If not head over to this post for my understanding and interpretation of it. Meanwhile the pot with the jade protruding out of it is the perfect Wabi-Sabi for me. And here you have my next tip...

Tip: Many a times we have such partly broken ceramic or earthen pots. Think of ways to incorporate them in your garden decor. Believe me,though damaged, if used wisely they can become your 'conversation starter' buddies!

Leaving you with a blooming image of a bonsai frangipaani. Hope you enjoyed this post...Stay tuned folks..More interesting stories coming your way!!!

The Japanese art of Imperfection: Wabi- Sabi

Do you know Wabi-sabi?

 It is quintessential Japanese aesthetic. A form where in you try to see the invisible..Perfection in the most imperfect things. It is the beauty in accepting the incomplete, impermanent or imperfect things.
To tune your mind in seeing and believing, that might not be the most perfect.The Japanese tradition of wabi-sabi offers an inspiring new way to look at your home and your life.

A wedding gathering...

There is a legend behind this. There was once a young man, who wanted to learn the various set of customs known as the way of tea. He went to a tea master.The tea master wanted to test this fellow and asked him to clean the garden. The learner cleaned up the fallen leaves, raked the ground till it looked perfect. Then, just to make sure, he shook a cherry tree which caused a few flowers to spill randomly on the ground.

Ha, so now do you get the connection? It was perfect wabi-sabi...An art of imperfection like those fallen flowers on the cleaned, perfect garden ...yet one that looks perfect with the imperfection on it.

The young man was Sen no Rikyu and to this day he is revered in Japan.With all the lavishness and luxury in home decor, when you try to blend it with rustic and earthy tones that is wabi-sabi.

 A crack ...some motifs..hand drawn

In the decor world, it can sum up as being that raw beauty, the crack in a pot, those flea market finds, that lonely abandoned hut in a faraway place among all the sleekness, mass produced mall shopping artifacts,the well done up luxury penthouse etc.

Do you get the picture? Sometimes the ultra modern, sleek and luxurious decor stands no chance against the rustic, weathered and ancient humble abode. But that is wabi sabi...
 I truly loved this term and bringing about a post on this too. It has a very deep meaning not only in the aesthetic world where we tend to measure everything but also in real life.

Terracotta and paints...couldn't stop myself from painting them...

You know now, exactly why handmade is beautiful,right? All things handcrafted may not meet all the quality standards but that's  what makes it precious!

Beauty truly lies in the eyes of the beholder!


*** The images are mine from a recent DIY activity and even the crack in the earthen uruli, did not stop me from painting it.Do you see beauty in it? It is my tribute to this Japanese art of practicing wabi-sabi.