Stuff We Like

The Zen temple gardens of Japan, as seen in this photograph of Ryogen in  Kyoto, can provide an ancient inspiration for a modern aesthetic.

Not only is this garden,  with its expanse of raked white gravel, incredibly beautiful and contemplative but it seems that it is also relevant to our garden in other ways.  Dry zones, with the soil protected by gravel mulches,  can be left unplanted creating very pleasing "negative space" within the overall design.  Though the monks who created the Ryogen garden had other things in mind,  at the very least this is a damn good way of saving on water usage and protecting the living soil from intense heat,  both of which are important in these times of global climate change.
 
The Main Courtyard here at The Drip has been filled with locally sourced white limestone grave.  It gleams in the moonlight. 

Aran and Julia at The Drip

Aran Creighton and his wife Julia arrived from London and spent time exploring the pleasures  of the inner city in Sydney and country life at The Drip in Mudgee.  This was Julia's first visit to Australia.  She was delighted by all that she saw and it  is now  looking as if the London/Mudgee shuttle service will be getting increasingly busy in the future.

Aran and Julia planted a new collection of cycads in The Hill Garden above the house.  Additional cycads, Macrozamia perowkskiana and Macrozamia communis,  too small to be planted out  just yet,  were also purchased from the Friends of the Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney.

Aran cut a set of steps into the hillside leading from the Top Terrace down  along "Aran's Path" making the walk around this section of the garden more easily accessible.  Very useful as some of us seem  to be getting on in years and easy is good.