The garden is now just over 20 years old which is quite a milestone in more ways than one. The garden is transitioning from a shiny newly built garden to a maturing garden. This ultimately means that we have to assess the garden’s changing needs and the maintenance practices to keep up with these needs.
An Ever-Changing Garden
The plants in a Chinese garden are a metaphor for the ephemeral and fleeting aspects of life. At the same time, many plants hold the symbol of longevity and immortality. Over the last 20 years many plants have come and gone, some rare, sublime, and common. Twenty years of vigorous growth and development began to envelop many of the white walls in the garden and covered up architectural and design features, stonework, and poetic inscriptions. An extra layer of maintenance was required to restore the proper scale of plants and restore hidden features in the garden, but also to reduce the amount of plant material that was contributing to fungal and pest issues garden-wide.
Meanwhile, at Lan Su, fungal and pest issues are being addressed successfully as we celebrate 3 years of an integrated pest management program! We have seen a significant reduction in aphids, cotton scale, root weevils, and azalea lacebug. Fungal issues that have plagued our Chinese plums and peonies have has also been significantly reduced!
Garden of Variety
Today the garden hosts 351 different plant species, which is a lot for a traditional Scholar’s garden which would typically keep 40 – 60 varieties of plants carefully chosen for their symbolic and aesthetic values. The balance between maintaining a botanical collection and respecting the Ming dynasty values that this garden was built to interpret gives more opportunity to present 4000 years of Chinese Horticulture.
Conspicuously Chinese named varieties and species of Lan Su’s most iconic plants are not currently represented. This is partially due to the misnomer of Latin botanical species names ‘ fortunei’ oftentimes were actually developed by Chinese Horticulturalists well before Europeans became enamored with Chinese botanicals. However that being said there are many varieties of Chinese garden plants that adorned Ming dynasty era gardens such as Pinus tabuliformis, Hibiscus mutabilis, Prunus davidiana (peach species named for Abbe Armand David but evidence points to cultivation in China long before him) and other Chinese peach varieties, Persimmon, Jasminum sambac, Enkianthus quinqeuflorus whose branches were used in temples as offerings. Chinese named varieties of Camellia reticulata, Flowering Quince, these, and many more are on my watch list and some we are attempting to grow some from seed!
Lotus Update
“Washed by ripples yet not voluptuous, came out of mud yet not contaminated.”
- Zhou Dunyi, Song dynasty philosopher (1017-1073)
Many of you might have noticed that we permanently planted our lotus collection in the pond. This winter we built a lotus bed along the terrace, their new forever home. I am excited to announce that the lotus are thriving and have sent up flowers buds! Some are about to open, so I can say that lotus season has officially started. For those who said that they wouldn't bloom this year- you owe me a burrito.
Historic Heatwave
I have lived in the PNW for most of my life and never have I experienced heat quite like last week. Although the garden was closed for the worst of it, our intrepid gardeners braved the elements to ensure the survival of our plants and koi. Thanks to a grant from the Firstenburg Foundation, the garden now has a newly installed irrigation system by Teufel. Without this system, the survival of the plants in the garden would have been a struggle for sure. To supplement the irrigation, the gardeners were overhead watering the most sensitive plants such as Edgeworthia, Rhodies and Hydrangea/Dichroa. These particular plants cannot cope with the extreme heat and needed an extra cool down, particularly with several consecutive days of extreme heat.
The heat of the last week also caused the pH level of the pond the go up, reducing the oxygen levels. Calvin placed “airstones” in the pond that pump in air, in the same way you would pump air bubbles into a fish tank.
Masonry
Over the past few years, we have been busy pruning, planting, painting, repairing mosaics and roof tiles....the list grows with each passing year. Lan Su’s Traditional Chinese Masonry consultant Gabe Weiss will be working throughout the summer on our Moonlocking pavilion and Tea house roofs. Gabe has been working with staff passing down knowledge and techniques on some of the annual maintenance of our rooftops and mosaic pathways. A special “waterglass paint” needs to be applied annually to the slope beams (roof ridges or wings). Otherwise, cracks will form and water will penetrate giving opportunity for further damage.
– Justin Blackwell, Curator of Horticulture
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