Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden

The first time I went into the Nikka Yuko Japanese garden in Lethbridge, Alberta, I was excited. I was working as a gardener for the City of Lethbridge and got to spend a partial day learning proper Japanese Garden juniper planting techniques. I was surprised to learn how much thought goes into the placement of a single juniper in the landscape.

One must look at the topography and fit the growth habit of the shrub to grow as though it has already been growing in that place. The direction of growth must point down the slope, for example. In a Japanese garden, everything (including the plants) are controlled. Beauty is controlled and control is beauty within a Japanese garden.

I was surprised to see how small the Nikka Yuko Japanese garden is. It is only 4 acres. Although the garden was lovely, and I was thankful for the learning opportunity, I was very glad that I hadn’t had to pay an admission fee to enjoy the garden.

I did go back to the Nikka Yuko garden several times. A friend and coworker snuck me in the back (worker’s) gate so I didn’t have to pay. Some of the staff there permitted me to take part in a tea ceremony, too. I got to enjoy the Japanese Gardens at a more authentic level than most (paying) guests would experience.

Our Heroic Couplet Poetry in the Park guided hike date at Botteril is on April 28, 2024, 10 AM.

If I had paid to get into Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, I would’ve felt pretty ripped off. The garden is lovely, but it is only 4 acres. Therefore, there’s little space to get a view of the garden without someone else in it.

I understand why they charge so much for people to get into Nikka Yuko, though. I’ve seen many examples of tree and shrub vandalism in this city. The hefty entry fee would keep the vandals out.

James and I will NOT be offering a FREE Poetry in the Park lesson just outside the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden on April 7, 2024 (starting at 10 AM). We had scheduled to start our Poetry in the Park guided hikes on April 7, 2024, but the forecast for Sunday doesn’t look good. Instead, we will cover the Haiku information with the Blank verse information on April 14, 2024 at Pavan Park.

A haiku isn’t that complicated to write. You may believe that it is as simple as three lines: five syllables; seven syllables; and then five syllables. You might be surprised to learn that writing authentic haikus is a little more complicated then that.

I have written three sentiments in a basic “haiku” form below (5, 7, 5). How many (if any) are actually authentic haikus? 1? 2? 3? None?

Find out the answer to this question (and more) when you attend our free Poetry in the Park event near the outside the entrance gate to Nikka Yuko Japanese garden between 10 AM and noon on April 7, 2024.

Our Waka guided hike at Six-Mile Coulee is on April 21, 10AM. (Bohemian Waxwings, not Cedars).

Japanese Garden

Rich complexity

of nature’s lost for order

and simplicity.

Garden “Gods”

Weak men crave control.

Controlling nature’s gardens

makes them feel like gods.

Show Garden

Low diversity

of life requires much labor.

Nature needs no slaves.

We planned to be teaching this lesson outside the front gate at Nikka Yuko. We had no plans to go in. I’m pretty sure it’s still closed for the season, anyhow. Feel free to pay to go in later on your own, if you care to do so. You will find more information about park fees further down on this page.

None of my songs (featured in videos between typed content in this post) were haikus. All were poems, though. In the winter months, James and I spend a fair amount of time down near the river feeding birds. The birds provide me with a very forgiving audience for my improvised melodies for first draft poems (especially when I bribe them with seeds and peanuts).

Check out this other person’s post:

If you want to see a preview of Nikka Yuko, see the post below.

https://shirley-agardenerslife.blogspot.com/2014/07/nikka-yuko-japanese-garden-in.html

You needn’t necessarily go into the Japanese Gardens to be inspired to write a Haiku about the scenery found within the garden. You can find many photos of Nikka Yuko on-line.

Poetry in the Park helps people develop Mindfulness, Knowledge, Focus, a Sense of Belonging, Health, and Confidence. The best things in life sometimes really are FREE!

Hikes may be cancelled with inclement weather (rain or 60 Km/ hour wind speeds). No bookings are required. Just show up ready to learn and hike.

Park Fees

Poetry in the Park guided hikes are free but there are entry fees for Nikka Yuko Japanese Gardens and/ or Waterton Lakes National Park. We’ve always found a Parks Canada Discovery pass to be money well spent. A Discovery pass allows access to ALL of Canada’s National Parks for the entire year (and other heritage sites, etc.).

We will only be offering Poetry in the Park guided hikes in one of the National Parks this spring: Waterton Lakes National Park. Therefore, one may choose to buy an annual Waterton pass to save a little cash. Even when we’ve only ended up going to Waterton in the year with our Discovery pass, we didn’t feel ripped off an the end of the year. It’s always nice to keep your options open and keep dreaming of discovering more beauty in nature.

The Nikka Yuko general admission fee for an adult is $13.50 for the day (but it is currently closed for the season). You can get an annual pass ($40 for an individual, $50 for a couple, or $60 for a family of four).

A daily pass into Waterton is $10.50 per adult (youth get in for free). A family/ group daily pass is $21.00. An annual pass for one adult to get into Waterton is $52.25. An annual pass for a family/ group (of up to seven people in one vehicle) is $104.50.

A Discovery pass (an annual pass) for one adult to get into a national park is $75.25. An annual pass for a family/ group (of up to seven people in one vehicle) is $151.25.

Seniors get in to National Parks a little cheaper (but not much cheaper).

Although I have a deep respect for the work that has went into designing, constructing, and maintaining Nikka Yuko, paying $10.50 to get into Waterton for the day sure beats paying $13.50 to get into Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden, if you ask me.

Please see my Poetry in the Park website tab for more information about Poetry in the Park and a complete spring, 2024 Poetry in the Park schedule.

Our next Poetry in the Park guided hike will take place at Pavan Park, 10 AM.

Lily Season

Lily Season

Most lilies bloom here in July.

Our native lilies bloom in June.

Our Easter lily’s forced to die

post bloom indoors to then be strewn

upon our compost heaps in spring.

September’s lily: Lycoris,

an amaryllis that may bring

pink fragrant blooms of tender bliss

in fall, just might not bloom at all

for five long years once planted in

your fertile, well-drained soil in fall.

But, once these lilies do begin

perfuming air in autumn sun,

then lilies may accompany you

from Easter ‘til the autumn’s done.

So, do as lily lovers do –

plant different types of lilies in

your garden where there’s lots of sun.

Blooms finish, then new blooms begin,

so lily season’s never done.

If you watched some of the videos that I included with this post, you will have noticed that the Lily I wrote about was not a flower. I’ve mentioned having written Silas Stories (and many of these stories have been featured in previous blog posts). Lily and other women with flower names are featured in many of the Silas Stories that I’ve written.

These flower-named women will have their own book at some point, with “Lily season” being an important part of it. I still haven’t published any books (and won’t for some time). I am still revising.

For any of you Canadians who are interested in growing your own lily garden, I have included some names of great lilies below.

Many of you lily lovers have an Easter Lily in your home right now. It will fill your home with its amazing perfume, and then hit the compost heap.

If you are lucky, you live near a wild space in Canada where Lilium canadense will be blooming in June. Lilium regale also blooms in June.

Lilium lancifolium (Tiger Lily) blooms in July.

Lilium martagon (Turk’s cap); Lilium pumilum; Lilium henryi; Lilium pardalium; and Lilium superbum bloom in August.

Lycoris squamigera blooms in September (if you’re lucky).

James and I will be offering a free guided poetry hike in Waterton Lakes National Park in June (to see the Lilies and other flowers in bloom along Wishbone trail). Check out our Poetry in the Park schedule to find out about more of our free guided hikes.

James and I will be offering free Poetry in the Park hikes in Lethbridge. These will start in April. We will tour people through different poetry forms in different areas of Lethbridge every Sunday morning in April and much of May. See the Poetry in the Park schedule for more information.

If you enjoyed my Lily poems that were featured in this post, I plan on reading a few more at the Owl Acoustic Lounge tonight – March 27, 2024. Owl Poetry starts at 7 PM. I hope to see you there. If not, have a happy Easter!

I’m a child and Ditch Art

I sing my song, I’m a child, in an attached video on this blog post. I also talk about the art projects that I’ve been working on. I call it Ditch Art and encourage others to try it out. I explain some ditch art techniques in the video after my song performance. I have gone into more detail explaining techniques in a previous video that I made on the subject in the fall of 2020.

I have also included my poem, Two Nights of Rain, at the end of this post (with videos between the stanzas). I was sure we’d get a killing frost tonight but it looks like the garden may get to keep green and growing for a little while longer. It might not frost tonight, but it will be a gamble to not pull in the harvest, though. I wrote Two Nights of Rain on September 29, 2023.

Ditch Art makes weeding the garden a lot more fun. If you do not have a garden to weed, you can find ample art supplies in ditches that you drive past on your way to hiking spots. You can also make ditch art with freshly fallen leaves (that aren’t dried out yet). You can even make ditch art from garden leaves that will hit the compost pile eventually.

When we harvest the garden, tomato leaves and other plant matter just go to waste. Why not pull out the watercolor paints before you pitch the greens into the compost? NOTE: If you use spray paint for your “ditch art,” the greens will not be compostable after the art project.

I have a friend who regularly digs up and relocates weeds and native plants that she comes across in gas station parking lots or other lots that will end up controlling their weeds chemically. She later eats parts of these weeds. I have never thought that this was a wise thing that she does. Somehow she hasn’t died yet.

You don’t know what kind of chemicals you are exposing yourself to when foraging in this manner. When it comes to Ditch Art, your exposure is minimal. However, you may consider wearing dish washing gloves or latex gloves when painting in this fashion. I wear gloves. It saves being covered with acrylic paints (which can also be very toxic).

If you choose to use spray paint when creating Ditch Art, you will need to wear a ventilator mask. You likely have many masks kicking around your home these days. Spray paint is toxic, as is indicated on each can of paint with the skull and cross bones symbol. No one should have to suffer physically for their art. Art should be fun and safe.

I just used acrylics (on the leaves to stick them to the paper), and watercolor paint (poured from jars onto the leaves and paper), and a spray bottle full of water to make this art. It cost little (I used paint from the dollar store). The paper cost a bit, though – that came from Michael’s craft store.

Two Nights of Rain

It’s tough to let the flower garden go

and let the fall, then winter, settle in.

I’ve brought plants in to crowd my windows, so

I’ve kept reminders of how things have been

outside (where I’ve been dining every day

these past few months amongst the flowers there.

A couple nights of rain will come our way.

The rain is great – the garden needs the care.

The cloudy skies will keep the frost at bay,

but days will stay quite cool without the sun.

The sky will clear the way for frost some day

quite soon – once these two nights of rain are done.

A killing frost is three whole nights away

so, though there’s rain, I’ll cherish every day.

Nasturtiums

My beautiful Nasturtiums aren’t so beautiful anymore. I have a Flea Beetle problem. I tried to spray my shampoo and water mix on the plants. I didn’t expect it to work at all on the flea beetles but I was using the mixture to control whiteflies and aphids there anyhow and thought I’d give the beetles a few squirts.

To my surprise, it brought the numbers down a bit. Perhaps the couple days of cooler nights and rain helped, too. Diatomaceous Earth would work better, I’m sure. In any case, I only have a few beetles on my Nasturtiums now. Perhaps I’ll get a few more flowers to enjoy. Perhaps it was the prayer that did it. I am nearly out of this coconut shampoo and will certainly be seeking for more of this brand of shampoo (to use as insect control along with my garden prayers).

You can check out my video with the orange butterfly in my flower garden at the end of this post to see how effective the soap mixture was on the flea beetles. I was surprised to see so few beetles this morning. Before yo do that, you might enjoy reading my poem, Tip Top Alaska Nasturtiums, which I typed up and included in this post. I have placed videos between the stanzas of my poem.

I attract birds to my garden. Birds are wasteful eaters – littering as much seed in the garden as they eat. By doing that, they ensure a crop for the following year, when they hope to return to the same spot to raise their young and continue to grow their “garden”.

They really aren’t interested in controlling insects entirely (they help “garden” them, too). Birds usually keep the insect numbers controlled so that the host plants continue to do well (since the birds like to care for the garden that they either planted in the first place or adopted). Birds are excellent gardeners.

I planted many sunflowers this year for the Blue Jays. Right now the orange butterflies are busy pollinating the disc florets but soon there will be plenty of seeds for the Blue Jays. If you want to attract Blue Jays to your garden, plant sunflowers (and put out peanuts on the window ledge or in a feeder).

Tip Top Alaska Nasturtiums

Tip Top Alaska Nasturtiums are great.

They start blooming so early and bloom really late.

Though their blooms are all yellow, not orangey red,

I will never again grow another instead.

I tried other Nasturtiums this year, but they don’t

out-shine Tip Top Alaska plants. Therefore, I won’t

even bother with others in gardens I grow

since no other Nasturtiums can put on a show

like this type. Like its leaves, this type’s growth habit’s round

and its covered with blooms – more than any I’ve found.

Leaves are variegated, like many prefer

(though not I). Even so, this Nasturtium is sure

something sweet. Ten more open for each bloom that drops.

For an edge or container plant, Tip Top’s the tops!

I haven’t gotten down because of the insects that were attracted to my garden this year. Sometimes the garden attracts flea beetles, aphids, and whitefly instead of butterflies and Blue Jays. I look forward to seeing if the Whitefly and Aphids end up attracting some songbirds. Yellow Warblers are always nice to see enjoying their crop of aphids from the Honeysuckle that they planted in my garden two decades ago. Nature is beautiful, educational, and surprising.

Next year I will avoid planting an Asian Green that I’ve been growing which attracted the flea beetles (cabbage family plants attract flea beetles). I will also avoid planting my Nasturtiums in my peat bale row. Crop rotation can be an easy way to break a pest’s life cycle.

Useful Resources

https://www.almanac.com/pest/flea-beetles

How to Control and Eradicate Flea Beetles

https://www.caterpillaridentification.org/caterpillars-by-state-listing.php?reach=Alberta

This American Mountain

I recorded This American Mountain in the fall of 2022 on the morning that I wrote the song. What I recorded was my first draft. My song did not turn out great so I ended up changing it a lot since the day that I wrote it. It is good to have the freedom to not be perfect right away and to have the freedom to keep learning and improving.

I always record my first drafts and post them. I like posting first drafts – it feels less “scripted” (which makes me feel more “free”. I do my movie reviews and deck dinner chats completely unscripted (which has gotten me into some trouble with YouTube repeatedly). When I get blocked for some unknown reason, it certainly reminds me of the fact that as much as I want to believe that I am “free”, that freedom has conditions. Perhaps it has to, to ensure everyone continues to enjoy this relative freedom that we enjoy in northern America.

This American Mountain was recorded at Cameron Lake in Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is a part of an International Peace Park that Canada and the United States share (Waterton joins with Glacier National Park, which is in the United States of America). The mountain that I was showing (and singing about in my song) is located in the United States, I have been told. I have never crossed the border into the United States to enter Glacier National Park. I have always wanted to.

Now Canadians need a passport to cross into the United States. This wasn’t the case in the past. When people take advantage to the freedoms that others offer them, there are consequences. No one likes being taken advantage of.

I don’t want to offend anyone with the things I say on my deck dinner videos that I upload onto YouTube. I can’t imagine how I am doing so but since YouTube thinks that I do, I guess I may have to start scripting myself (or avoid doing the deck dinner video reviews). Perhaps I’ll just sing more songs to birds and flowers instead. These lovely native Americans always receive me well.

When it comes down to it, I’m not going to “fight the power” to have my movie reviews heard by the masses (very few people who might care to watch them). At my age I have little “fight” left in me so it has to be something really worth fighting for to get me “battle-ready”. I’d rather be thankful for all the freedoms I have here in North America.

I am so thankful that I get to go out and see so many beautiful native flowers and birds in Lethbridge and in the nearby Rock Mountains where I hike regularly in the summer. I love being a Canadian every time I am out on a hike. So, whenever I get down about things that I would like to have but do not, I just go out and surround myself with the things that I love most of all that I do have. When I go out hiking, I forget all about life’s shortcomings and remember just how wealthy I really am.

Jim & Tammy Faye

Though Jim and Tammy Faye

“unburdened” common men

of cash so they could pay

for furs and finery,

they didn’t rob men then;

men served them willingly.

They pedaled Christian “junk”

(the people’s opium)

to every eager “punk”

who watched them on TV.

The Bakers weren’t so dumb –

they reached out greedily.

While dealers profit from

the heroin they deal

to make their users numb,

most do it violently.

Street “goods” are not more “real”,

though users are less free.

The Bakers held no arms

or threatened anyone.

One TV preacher charms

for patrons charity;

another loads his gun

to threaten you and me.