Understand What You See, Care About What You Do

What do you see ?

Art defines the line between the man and the animal. It is evidence of undeniable wonder in a sometimes ordinary task. Once performed, it is timeless.

Wise men stumble to describe what simple souls can shape with the love in their hands. Language, Religion, politics, color of skin have no influence over it.

This is a Holy Lesson as good as any, universally understood, one that most preachers know nothing of.










You must care cousin, in the place you are given. Be good at what you do. Put beautiful things all around you. Paradise is not a time, it's an infinitude, and you have to build it, it's not free.

Life and Love

The unfairness of life needs no reason,
just keep on living and look for love.

Takes long to learn
what's especially pleasing,
is not in the man but in the season,

The breath_ the_ glance_
the sparkle fleeting.

Should no one make the love,
and you not give,
then what becomes it,
so perfect and lonely_
in no heart to live.


 

Place Where The Rivers Meet

Young Man,

Question the least of things,
understand what is true,

that all things false are forgotten,
what you believe, be it unfounded,
was never.

What is a man?
So then make yourself.



Northwest Territories, Yukon

One Fine Greenhouse

It is truly representative of a humble spirit in earnest question,

a worthy prayer scribed in completeness with admiration to a Most High Order.

This is the role of men.



Greenhouse at Shangri La Garden  Orange, TX

A note for #1

Cousin, be aware of  the darkness into which men are born, that each man by his own account must overcome singly, a state of denial / spirit of disbelief / ignorance determined to stay / emptiness / untruth that exists in every man in every faith.


Image of Arenal Volcano, La Fortuna Church     San Carlos, Costa Rica

Firebush / Hamelia patens

Firebush is a first-class tropical plant / butterfly and hummingbird attractant. Though it freezes to the ground most winters, in late spring when temps warm it returns faithfully to its flawless form, not one brown leaf, not one spent flower. 

It grows to 7 feet high and slightly less wide naturally, and I don't trim it at all until frost, when I cut it to the ground and leave the trimmings to insulate the roots during winter. It has survived 15 degrees for 2 consecutive long nights here in zone 8b south Louisiana just fine.

 It loves full sun and drip irrigation, but I have one in a dry spot that does almost as well. In fall leaves develop red specks to complement its special color. It looks particularly well next to Musa Thia Black banana you might see in the distance.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamelia_patens 

Musa Siam Ruby Banana Tree

I purchased 4 tissue cultures of this plant a year ago, kept them through the winter in a window in my house along with other small ornamental bananas, where I learned Siam Ruby is a bit more fussy.

In March I planted 3 plants in different environments in my garden, and one in a container inside my shade house.

So far it is my opinion that they are cold sensitive, do not like the low humidity inside a house, leaves are tattered easily in the wind, and stalks are weak. The plant in the shade house under drip irrigation fares best, and is a joy to grow.

The tissue cultures in this batch were not consistent in color as some are a bit more green in coloring than others. I prefer this one that is almost entirely red.

 Plant yours out of the wind or harsh sun. It loves ideal conditions, where it grows to 8 feet high and 5 feet wide in one summer. In the spring I will let you know how it fares zone 8b temperatures in the ground.

OK, spring 2015 is here and Siam Ruby is coming out of the ground like a winner. It survived a colder than average winter in zone 8b.

Hummingbird Moths

 White Lined Sphinx Moth

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyles_lineata










Pink Spotted Hawk Moth

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrius_cingulata










Hummingbird moths do look to be near the size of hummingbirds, and resemble them remarkably while hovering above there favorite food, but on silent wings that do not hum.

Even their wings appear to be made of feathers. A special gift here in my zone 8b South Louisiana yard in late summer and fall, they feed near or after sunset, and are highly attracted to  White Hedychium (butterfly) Ginger.

The humming bird moth insists, that no one's garden is left without_  beauty in alluring complexity_  the man need not look for splendor, but paradise will seek the man.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedychium_coronarium

White House Ruin / Canyon de Chelly, AZ

Young Man,

Hidden messages/freedom live in travel, sufferings, mistakes, learning, experimentation, endeavors. They comprise the definition of each unit of distance by event, occurrence, location, inspiration_ a measure far more meaningful than ticks of a clock/time, a value/opportunity wasted without action.

The whole of understanding resides in earnest question, afforded by this great unknown/vastly underestimated allowance/distance/chance we know.

The value of our best work/art/gift is limited to this exact degree of understanding/action. The spirit/intellect/person is formed/shaped/harvested/encouraged by the beauty of nature and deliberate acts of teachers who kindle interest in the devotion of hands on learning/doing/discovery by action/sweat/sacrifice/blood.

In conversations of men, abrupt off topic terms/subjects/links ( of which White House Ruin is one ) and off topic phrases ( facts unfamiliar to men  ) are uncomfortable, superficially denied, foolishly criticized, considered disconnections in the simple means of human communications ( complacency )...

 However in nature our greatest teacher, contrasts are commonplace,  undeniable, and accepted _  where these visual off topic terms/subjects become shortcuts through doldrums of information useless to the moment  ( travel through space is relative to mans acquisition of knowledge, the universe is equal to the mind, the man is equal to his lessons learned/travel/action ).

People for the sake of being on topic create a waist of word time, ( on topic being what feels good ) a modern day replacement for a repeated chant/repeated chorus of a song/obsolete form of courtesy,  which can be ridiculously slow and limit a learning process detrimental to the survival of a people. It must be amended. It's ballsy and borderline arrogant I know, but necessary for our descendents.

In the future, when two human beings address one another to exchange information, we must make it possible that more is conveyed in less time, and this can only be possible with a greater knowledge base, a greater respect and admiration of absolute truth. This will be the universal language of peace, and must be spoken sufficiently fluent to provide the connectedness we desperately need to become a type 1 civilization. We can not survive ourselves without it.

Looking into the night sky, the testimony of such vast possibilities overwhelmingly suggests highly intelligent neighbors who speak this language. Numbers among us must assume this responsibility on behalf of the whole of Earth's People/all things Good and Beautiful.  

White House Ruin is one classic example of a vanished culture (Anasazi). These talented architects disappeared without a successful written language, or descendents to tell their story. It is a lesson plainly visible in many places in the Desert Southwestern U. S. from which we must learn, or chance to follow.

White House Ruin Is one of several Indian Ruins within Canyon de Chelly National Monument Arizona, one of the most beautiful of all the canyons I've visited. The canyon has been the home of The Navajo People for some 300 years. One of Whom is my good friend Adam Teller of Antelope House who took me to these sites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canyon_de_Chelly_National_Monument

Musa ''African Red '' Banana

I acquired this ornamental banana as a very healthy corm this past fall from Zone 9 Tropicals in Houston, Tx.. I overwintered it in a greenhouse during the very cold winter and put it in the ground where it will stay, in early spring here in zone 8b South Louisiana. I am advised it does well here, even though it freezes to the ground most winters, it returns to full form every summer.

 It's a promising specimen, appears true to name, and is one of those plants you'll want where you can see it's deep rich red often. It should reach maturity next summer at I'm thinking 10 feet high and 8 feet wide, as the grove becomes acclimated to its new environment. It is now about 7 feet high and 4 feet wide.

Caesalpinia Pulcherrima / Pride Of Barbados

Pride of Barbados, sometimes called Dwarf Poinciana or Peacock Flower, is surprisingly unknown to many long time gardeners.  I've seen it growing  throughout the Southern U.S. Gulf Coast region  as far west as Phoenix and Tuscon Arizona in city flower plantings, as pretty as pie in the Sonoran Desert heat, yet, it loves the wet weather here in the cooler rainy season of the Southeastern U. S... It's remarkably uncommon for a plant to tolerate both environments.

Though its been around a while, it's true value as a 1st class tropical plant is largely unrecognized. Possibly because it's a plant for larger yards at 4 to 6 feet in height 6 to 8 feet wide, but it also has the ability to overpower everything but the classiest creations of nature.

The red orange and yellow flowers grab the attention of human beings, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds  before any other color, across distances far past mans ability to identify what In the world it could be. This is an attribute very few subjects possess, and it is undeniably powerful. It's fern like leaf texture and habit, it's airy suggestion of peace and harmony are specifically wonderful. If you only get to grow 10 plants in your time on Earth, this should be one.

The plant pictured here is one I've grown for about 8 or 10 years in a hard and dry spot, in my Southwestern Louisiana zone 8b yard, in full sun, on the south trunk of a Long leaf Yellow pine tree, in acidic infertal sandy soil, where it's roots have survived 2 consecutive winter nights of 15 degrees F for 10 hours.

Seeds sprout easily for propagation purposes, but the plant is not invasive. It loves heat, pine needles around its base, ample rain but has endured drought, likes a little fertilizer but doesn't usually get any. It just sits there and looks like this from late June until mid-Septmber when seeds demand all Its energy, freezes to the ground in most winters here, and returns to full form every year to make us happy again. It is a living Prayer with healing capacity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesalpinia_pulcherrima

Moso Bamboo / Phyllostachys heterocycla pubescens

This is Moso Bamboo as it is most commonly called. This particular plant is a 2002 seedling I acquired from a fellow bamboo enthusiast, bamboo expert, and Nurseryman Gib Cooper of Gold Coast, Oregon ( Tradewinds Bamboo Nursery ).

 I'ts  been in the ground for about 10 years, has grown to 35 feet in height and 2 inches in diameter on a infertal Pine ridge in Southwest Louisiana, way out in a meadow in the woods where it gets absolutely no attention. I take people to see it every now and then, everyone loves it.

 In it's native environment in The Mountains of China, it can grow to an impressive 8 inches in diameter and 80 foot in height in it's man like  life cycle of 80 years, after which it flowers and then dies, sending it's hopes, dreams, and love into the future in unimaginable numbers of prayer-like seeds, each and every one possessing the power of oneness, to be of different shape, form, color, and behavior.

 Likened to men, what the power of many cannot do, the one has all power over. A sort of Benevolent Dictatorship is true.

 In the baron brown confusion of the dying bamboo forest, while the impatient man believes the world has ended, countless wise little seeds see an eternal beauty, an unbeknownst new garden in a distant time.

tp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phyllostachys_edulis

Yosemite Valley

When the spirit of Beauty passes, the physics of time is altered in five seconds of magic. An ever-returning symphony plays, to an elusive summoners call.

  
In the presence of its glory men are forced to remember its sovereignty, in the purest form of question_ the instinctive fire of the crucible states it's case, 
   
followed by an awe inspired affirmation_ the light in which we men must all agree and admire. 

It is I believe, after a life of ponderance, a time within a realm. .

http://www.nps.gov/yose/index.htm 

Musa Velutina Banana

Musa Velutina is an ornamemtal banana that has  grown outside my Southwestern Louisiana zone 8b  kitchen window for 15 or 20 years, freezing to the ground most winters and returning to this form every summer. The mature grove is 6 foot high and almost as wide. It loves rainy weather or daily drip irrigation, inexpensive 13-13-13 fertilizer 2 or 3 times a year, temperatures from 57 to 90 degrees F. , but will tolerate more heat. Bananas love full sun early May to end of September, then get sleepy in this climate. Over all a most gratifying plant to grow here.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musa_velutina