Rock Gardens are one of the most effective landscaping features.

They also provide that all elusive curb-appeal that adds signicant value to a home at minimal cost.

There are few features in the garden that provide such a variety of interests in so little space as a well-planned and carefully planted rock garden.

The smallest plot may contain a rock garden which will house a representative and charming collection of alpine plants; but, on the other hand, there are few features in the ordinary garden that are so neglected and so ill-understood.

It must be remembered that the chief function of the rock garden is to provide the plants grown in it with conditions, so far as possible, similar to those existing in their natural haunts.

The alpines and high alpines are the most typical of all rock plants and are mostly natives of the high mountain crags and screes of the Alps and Himalayas.

The ideal rock garden, therefore, should, so far as possible, provide the soil and natural conditions pertaining in these regions.

During the short alpine summer the plants are subjected to fierce and baking sun; many of them, therefore, have thick leaves covered with down or hair to protect them from its shrivelling rays.

The roots, too, at this time need ample moisture, and this is provided by the melting of the snows on the mountain tops, whence it permeates through the scree of the moraine.

Also, to live in their natural haunts they require to be very deep and strong rooted, very often with a much greater root run than the foliage and flowers which their roots support.

Enjoy. DT.

A Lesson From A Hum Of A Bamboo Clump
Dadang Kadarusman
36e2

Have you heard a nature hymn? For example, a whir of ting-a-ling-a-ling sound yielded by bamboo leaves when wind blows to its clump? If you have an opportunity to visit a bamboo garden, try to listen to its hymn. The trees of a bamboo clump will sing along with the wind.

When the wind blows blandly, bamboo leaves will play a beautiful symphony, so that it can sway your soul. And when the wind starts to blow lively, hence the bamboo leaves begin sounding a lilt of a quick song like Disco or Rock 'n Roll. Ah! I really miss to listen to their hymn again.

They sing while at the same time they dance. They dance in an amazing movement. There is no other living thing can sing and dance beautifully like bamboo clump trees! While its leaves melodic voices singing a peaceful song, the bamboo trees bar wiggling to the right and to the left. Dancing, turning and winding. Swinging and sway-ing. As if they are singing homage hymn while at the same time performing its devotion dance.

Hey, listen…, listen to that voice. The bamboo leaves sounding their voice again. And see, the bamboo peak wiggle in a flourishing movement. They sing. And dance joyfully. Bend twisting.

You will almost never find even a single piece of bamboo tree uprooted by the wind, and then fallen down.

You also almost have never found a bamboo clump wither. Though dry season is burning the entire surface of the earth severely. If you look for an evergreen tree even in a terrible dry season, hence in fact you are searching for bamboo clump trees. Whenever dry season force all trees to run dehydrated and fade away, hence surely bamboo clump trees chosen to stand firm. It makes them to be the last tree standing. Evergreen.

Do you have any idea of; Why the bamboo clump can hold out such firm? Even if a very dry weather hits it ruthlessly? What a mystery. Really, a mystery which worth to be discovered and learned the value inside it.

Now, try to pay attention to. Those who often sing a cheerful song, in a joyful rhythm, usually are the people who enjoy their wonderful life. Conversely, one who likes to sing a cheerless song usually is the one who has been spending his life in a gloomy life.

My questions are: why the first people are long lastingly happy and full of joy? Whether they have never experienced a stormy life? Or may be they have never faced a life temptation like others?

A song represents an expression of heart feeling. If you let your heart to sing the song along, you would be able to see the inmost feeling of the composer. And you will understand them. And even you can feel them as it happened to you.

A song can also connect you to any historical event. Because, a song can preserve any story within it. If you have a memorable song, which is reminding you to a story of a past experience, so whenever coincidentally you hear someone sings the song, you surely will be remembering the story behind the song. It indicates that a song has magical strength to influence our feelings. In brief, a song has a hand in glove linkage with our soul.

Isn't it true that you cannot sing a cheery song while you remain to let your mood mope? On the other hand, a sorrow song will by itself brings you to a gloomy atmosphere and waste away. No wonder also if your doleful heart feeling can quickly change at a moment you hum a great song willingly. Vice versa.

By the way, do you know that it is the answer for the question of; Why the bamboo clump can hold out such firm? Even if a very dry weather hits it ruthlessly? Because, bamboo clump trees always sing such a full of bliss songs, joyful, and courage to live peacefully, happily, and at the same time bravely and strongly. Because of that, when they sing, they also swing to the right and to the left. Wiggling, and swaying freely. In a perfect harmony.

That is the secret of the strength of bamboo clump trees: they are eager to sing the songs of the beauty of life.

As you felt when you sang a happy song. In fact, every human being can make his or her selves happy, joyful, and hopeful, by singing a great song. The song as warbled by a bamboo clump. As I do myself.

I have some great songs as well. If I sing the song - or someone sounding it for me - hence the imagination of my mind will automatically replay a movie containing recorded events about my related past memories.

For example, when the “Twinkle-twinkle Little Star” sounded. Hence everything in my mind is a star-studded peaceful night atmosphere when I went out to go to our farmhouse backyard.

That moment, I looked into to the beauty of the amazing sky where there were stars twinkling. That was so wonderful. I looked at a twinkle star. And I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high. Like a diamond in the sky. Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are! When the blazing sun is one. When the nothing shines upon. Then you show your little light. Twinkle, twinkle, all the night. Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are!

Then the traveler in the ark. Thanks you for your tiny spark. He could not see which way to go. If you did not twinkle so. Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I wonder what you are!

When I warble “The Kite”, I surely remember the entirely moment when I flew my kite. I can feel its perfect feelings. I can feel the nylon yarn sensation in my palm grasp. And sunlight at any times bedazzled my eyes so that I have to a slightly chink, or change my dry-grass made hat position. I can feel bland wind puff wagged my hair. Altogether. Though the real event has elapsed tens of years ago, but my memory, still stores it altogether finely.

Don't you also have similar memorable songs?

I will tell you a story that you might never find in any place before. Yet, this is a commonplace activity in our agricultural society environment. If someone sings without music accompaniment, hence our traditional people in the farm called it as hariring. You sing, but there is no music goes along with you, that is hariring. Since word 'kuring' in our traditional language means 'I” or “myself”, hence hariring kuring means, “a quiet song of my own”. A hum. The song when you sing in the bathroom.

If you sing your hariring in bathroom, The Farmer did it in the middle of the paddy rice field. And that it is. A most real view about hariring kuring in our farmland was a song sang by The Farmer when he worked in the farm. Usually, our paddy rice field ploughed by a group of workers, supported by a small ploughman chariot pulled by a buffalo. We call such activity as nyingkal or ngagaru. Yes, it is nyingkal or ngagaru. Meaning, shuffling through and smoothing down the soil, so it becomes soft and fertile land to enable us to cultivate seeds within it. While The Farmer did such wonderful job, he sang his hariring. Have you witnessed an employee working while at the same time singing a sorrow song? Of course you have not. Except those who work in the funeral.

The Farmer never sang any sorrow song. Or any song, which is narrating about miserable life. The Farmer only sang great songs. The song about thanking God. A homage song. Or about love. Songs about hope. Or about the beauty of his life. About a sweet dream. About abun-dance crop. About seasoned fruits. About anything to please his attempt to work in the farm. And about life bliss which is forever dreamed of. Let's try to enjoy this song:

Ari hirup geuning Endahna ning tanpa tanding Omat ulah dimurah mareh Mun seug datang wanci magrib, Waktuna urang areureun Mangsana srangenge hudang, Waktuna urang nguniang

Through the rhyme, The Farmer is saying: This life is so beautiful, Nothing compares to it Remember, don't be wasted in When the dusk come arriving, Time for us to enjoy the night, And when morning sun starts to shine again, Time for us to awaken and start the new day

If at one day you find somebody in your office work diligently, and at the same time he sing such song; whether you assume that this person will get the bliss he is dreaming of?

So that what The Farmer did, when he was plow-ing up his farming land. He sang. He enjoyed. He took pleasure in. He hummed his hariring. All daylong.

You may choose a song you like most. Lets say, a song reminding you to the noise of the sea wave in a beautiful coast when you were having a vacation there. Now let the song sounding in your workroom. Isn't it true that at the moment you listen to the song, you can recollect all the beautiful scenes you experienced in the coast? The wall of your workroom cannot hinder you from such imaginary panorama, right?

In my ear, The Farmer's hariring still be clearly heard. And as you felt the whir wave when listening your song, I cannot discharge such nostalgia I have ever recognized, when I hear that hariring. So that, no matter how difficult life challenges hit me; I can smell the aroma of green grass in The Farmer's land. And I can feel wind bland caressing and pampering my face. I just get all the feelings again, when I again hear The Farmer's hariring sounding.

If you like, you can make your own hariring and let it helps you to REMIND YOU to the most beautiful moment in your life. Isn't it true that you wish to have such beautiful memory remains to be the endless property of yours? If so, why don't you then just let it to be your own hariring?

The more hariring you make, the more easy for you to comfortably dance even within the dusky sides of life. It assists you to immediately take stand pleasing again. Anyway in fact, you can manage your own heart feeling. So that any kind of life storms will not be able to turn you down. Because, the fact is that you are stronger. And you will always find the way to immediately go out safely; each time any life temptation tries to squeeze you.

Hariring is like a LIGHTNING ROD. It is made to protect a high building from pouncing thunder in a stormy rain. It can disperse wild thunders.

Hariring is also acting as an antibody, readily alert to dash down any diseases trying to infiltrate into our immune system. Hariring is an infrastructure you must be in possession of. And you can easily possessing it, if you wish to have it. Any time.

So, when any time you get a pleasant bliss, don't forget to make your own hariring. And let it be your forever hariring. And when at one time you are feeling blue, neutralize that sorrow by the hariring. Hence you would be able to control your emotion, and return to a beautiful atmosphere. And you will always be able to enjoy your life. Promise? You will.

If you refer the wild wind rage in the bamboo clump life to a 'life temptation' of human being. A heavy barricade. A life burden. Any difficulty. You may see that the bamboo clump trees chosen to sing, and dance with it. When there are so much big trees fallen down because of the wild wind knocked over, the bamboo clump trees cho-sen to gather with it, and compose it to become a melodic harmony composition. Bamboo clump trees chosen to sing it. And to dance with it. And live with it happily. Forever.

What the bamboo clump trees did was more than just survival. They are also enjoying their daily life under the wind hegemony. No matter how hard the wind blows, the bamboo clump trees still there up stand. Alive. And cheerful.

When the storm come, you may witness so many big trees fall down. But not such bad event bamboo clump trees experiencing, when the storm hits. Why? Because bamboo clump trees, choose to croon cheerily with the storm. And dance with it joyfully.

The wind blow is our life temptation. The storm is our being hurricane. And the bamboo clump tree is you.

Sing your hariring as the bamboo trees croon the hum. If you can sing the same hum, then you would be strong like the bamboo clump trees. No matter how hard life burden hits you; you would remain to be strong. You would remain to be able to sing.

Sing your hariring. Voice out the hum. Dance with joy. And remain to be enthusiastic.

Like the bamboo clump which remains to become green forever. And you, would be forever green.

(Taken from: Yee-Haw! What A New Day!!!: The Art of Making Your Career AND Personal Life Balance. A Book by Dadang Kadarusman, published by Trafford, Victoria Canada).

Dadang Kadarusman. Spent his childhood in the agricultural area in Indonesia. His childhood life experience is obviously giving a strong foundation of being sensitive to any natural phenomenon surrounding him. He even thinks, why string bean is different from the other beans? What is in the cock's crow? What song the bamboo clump sings? Therefore, he found the 'message' conveyed by Aloe more than what other people comprehend it as the healing substance to bring back the beauty glint of the matt hair or skin. Fortunately, eastern culture provides him the values of philosophies and wisdoms. Then what he has been doing is to blend his sensitive understanding to natural events with the values of the wisdoms of eastern philosophies. To see his work on Inspirational book writing, please visit: /www.trafford.com/robots/04-2112.html target=_blank>http://www.trafford.com/robots/04-2112.html target=_new>http://www.trafford.com/robots/04-2112.html

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