Author Topic: Photo Tour of my Uncle #4’s Lotus Pond Garden…. (Read 3573 times)

miguynmkoi · « **on:** December 02, 2007, 03:16:25 PM »

When we finished our tour in China last month we visited relatives in Macau. They drove us into my DH’s ancestral village which is just north of Macau inside China Mainland by about (45 minutes drive presently).

We haven’t visited the area since my kids were young, maybe about 15 years ago. The growth and improvement is amazing. Before we traveled on dirt and broken serpentine narrow roads. This time the roads were nicely paved and at least 4 lanes wide in the smaller stretches. There are still agricultural fields lining the road but noticeably there are many businesses and residential developments dotting the roadside. The villages we saw in the past look like any metropolitan city anywhere today. I have mixed feelings about that though – another place and time for this.

We visited Uncle #4’s home in Southern China in the province of Guangdong – home to Cantonese cuisine. This is the 2nd home he has design and overseen the building process, in the past 20 years. It is a beautiful 3 story home but the crowning achievement is his “Lotus Garden.” He built this house about 10 years ago so it’s the first time we have seen it in person. He rarely stays there since he is based in Macau with the rest of his family and he hired an out of work musician (ancient Chinese music player) to maintain (haha) and protect his property. Uncle #4 is a passionate and artistically inclined individual who always fed this obsession by studying and producing his visions. He loves things made naturally or by hand such as handicrafts & arts from ancient times, calligraphy, and things only Mother Nature could create.

In his 1st home he had a well water fed pond which perked my interest in ponding so many years ago. This time around he has created a lotus pond, waterfall, and lily pond, besides many other special features in his garden. I’m grateful to the cousins who took time out of their lives to take us on such an enjoyable trip …down memory lane. I hope you will enjoy the photos below as much as I did in person.

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #1 on:** December 02, 2007, 03:16:47 PM »

More....

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #2 on:** December 02, 2007, 03:18:14 PM »

more....

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #3 on:** December 02, 2007, 03:18:59 PM »

more....

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #4 on:** December 02, 2007, 03:19:49 PM »

more...BTW does anyone know the name of the fruit/tree in the last photo? thanks rdrboone for the answer: Surinam Cherry, Eugenia uniflora

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #5 on:** December 02, 2007, 03:20:44 PM »

last 3.....

EagleEye · « **Reply #6 on:** December 02, 2007, 03:55:09 PM »

Thank you so much for your photos. the bonsais are so very impressive.
what is the bridge railing made of?
I have been to Hong Kong, but never to mainland China. I hope that I will get to visit your country.

Steve

Jerry · « **Reply #7 on:** December 02, 2007, 04:13:25 PM »

Amazing photos. Love the massive bamboo posts on the dridge.
Thanks fo sharing!

Mikey · « **Reply #8 on:** December 02, 2007, 04:15:05 PM »

Your uncle has a beautiful garden area. I have no idea what that fruit tree might be

tracey_shafer · « **Reply #9 on:** December 02, 2007, 06:06:52 PM »

Wow, beautiful garden....

Esther · « **Reply #10 on:** December 02, 2007, 07:24:18 PM »

Wonderful garden. It looks like something in a park. Yes, the bonsais are great too.

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #11 on:** December 02, 2007, 07:40:27 PM »

Thanks everyone.

EagleEye the yellow bamboo is actually concrete formed and colored to look like the real thing. Made to last. This includes the railing on the bridge and the posts holding the vines up over the walkway.

As for the bonsai, my Uncle has many bonsai ceramic pots of all sizes, 3' in length and shorter, are stacked in his potting shed for more plants he wants to start in the spring. These pots, expensive here, are very inexpensive in China. If only I could carry them back to the States on my lap in my squeeshie airline seat.

maryvonne · « **Reply #12 on:** December 02, 2007, 08:11:09 PM »

Wow that's a very beautiful garden! I really enjoyed seeing the photos.

rdrboone · « **Reply #13 on:** December 02, 2007, 08:16:16 PM »

WOW! What a spectacular garden.

I believe that the fruit tree (with the red ribbed fruit) is a Surinam Cherry, Eugenia uniflora. The fruit is used for jam and is delicious eaten raw when very ripe. My brother has a hedge of these in central Florida

Ruth

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #14 on:** December 02, 2007, 10:24:14 PM »

Thank you rdrboone for the name to the Jam fruit. When Uncle 4 pointed out the fruit the first thing he said was "these are jam fruit" and that the ones we saw in the tree were the last of the season. My DH ate the ones in the photo and said they were tasty.

Now we have a name for it....in English.

Surinam Cherry, Eugenia uniflora!

CliffandJoann · « **Reply #15 on:** December 03, 2007, 08:38:01 AM »

Thanks Monica, I loved seeing all your photos, they are spectacular.

Love the Bonsai photos too! We do Bonsai and I treasure mine.
Please post more photos. Did you bring home any treasures from China
for your home or garden?

Joann

tranquility · « **Reply #16 on:** December 03, 2007, 09:15:59 AM »

gorgeous garden....I bet the lotus pond is breathtaking to see in full bloom....
Lawanna

Mikey · « **Reply #17 on:** December 03, 2007, 10:05:54 AM »

Annette: Is it a Chinese cultural thing to refer to family membes by their order of birth? I had never thought about this until you referenced "Uncle #4" and that caused me to reflect on the old Charlie Chan detective movies where he always referred to his son, not by his name, but by "#1 son".

CliffandJoann · « **Reply #18 on:** December 03, 2007, 10:44:51 AM »

Mikey, are you a Charlie Chan fan? I am ,and always have been since a small child.
I have the complete set of the Charlie Chan movies
on dvd. I watch them mostly in my kitchen, when I have kitchen duty
and when the head guy is watching football games on Sunday!

Joann

tammie · « **Reply #19 on:** December 03, 2007, 11:36:56 AM »

Beautiful! More pictures please!
Tammie

nofleezmoniz · « **Reply #20 on:** December 03, 2007, 12:20:21 PM »

An extremely elegant Garden!!!

Sumarnam Cherry is the Fruit. Quite tart!!

Maybe you learned the craft of Bonsai making and can in a couple of years have some nice displays of your own making. A labor of love craft.

Thanx for sharing your great photos.

Mikey · « **Reply #21 on:** December 03, 2007, 01:54:40 PM »

Joann: I don't have any Charlie Chan videos but as a kid I always enjoyed the series. I love his one-liners of wit. I haven't seen any old movies on TV for some time. I would think Turner Classics would have them. The fetching Mrs. Mikey gets movies from NetFlex all the time and I'll have to ask her to order some.

"Curiosity responsible for cat needing nine lives." - Charlie Chan
"Fingerprints very valuable if detective can catch owner of fingers." - Charlie Chan

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #22 on:** December 03, 2007, 01:56:25 PM »

Quote

Did you bring home any treasures from China for your home or garden?

I have tried (T - R - I - E - D) not to get things for the house for the past 10 yrs or so because it's just piling up, plus I don't enjoy dusting. But I have wished alot of times I could get stuff that would be to big to carry by myself on the flight home or expensive and fragile to deliver. I did buy 2 large round hand batik indigo tablecloths, one in Dali and the other in Lijiang. I'm still sorting the photos so when I find the photos I'll post 'em.

Quote

I bet the lotus pond is breathtaking to see in full bloom....

Unfortunately I only visit China in the late fall so I miss all lotus blooms :'(

Quote

Is it a Chinese cultural thing to refer to family membes by their order of birth?

It's a sign of respect and part of the culture. Like a title of sorts. I'm #1 daughter and have always been refered to that "title" by all relatives and close elder Chinese family friends. Raising my son & daughter we have done the same. Since there is only one of each girl & boy it's just older bro and little sis. When they were young all my neighbors, non-Chinese, thought their names were Goh and Moi (they refer to each other by the titles and I screamed these names all the time as they played outdoors) and thought the names in English were their middle names, ie many moms call their kids by their full names, especially when angry, you know?

Bonsai - they don't work for me, DH knows I've tried and spent $$ trying to make them live but it's too hot & dry here for me to constantly make sure they're ok. btw - if I tried the larger pots for bonsai, that may work....but you didn't hear it from me if DH asks.

Mikey · « **Reply #23 on:** December 03, 2007, 02:48:28 PM »

Very interesting #1 daughter

I guess that would make me #2 son.... Hmmmm. I'm not certain I'd like being called #2 due to what that implies in American culture

petekoi2 · « **Reply #24 on:** December 03, 2007, 03:53:42 PM »

Thanks,

For Great picture of Pond and Bonsai..

petebonsai

CoolShades · « **Reply #25 on:** December 03, 2007, 04:32:33 PM »

Your #4 Uncle has a very nice garden!

The pond is very similar to a hotel I stayed in Qing hua dow called Great Wall Hotel. This is a small town of ~ 2.5M people near Dragons Head (Start of the Great Wall). I wish I had taken pictures, but it is a very similar pond with lovely blooming lotus.

Gary

CliffandJoann · « **Reply #26 on:** December 03, 2007, 06:24:44 PM »

Mikey, all the charlie chan movies were pulled from TV.
Netflix has about 14 or 15 of the original 40 Charlie Chan movies.
There is some interesting Charlie Chan information here on this
forum.
http://pub8.bravenet.com/forum/609140853/fetch/703431/

You can get to Charlie Chan's Aphorisms from this webpage

http://www.charliechan.info/

EagleEye · « **Reply #27 on:** December 03, 2007, 07:28:20 PM »

Your jam bush here, might very well be called a nanking cherry bush. I had 3 of them and the cherrys made the best jam. Jerked them out to put in the pond years ago.
Last year planted 3 more of them. From China I believe.

Steve

miguynmkoi · « **Reply #28 on:** December 04, 2007, 11:37:36 AM »

Steve, the fruit in my photo isn't the same as a nanking cherry bush. The nanking fruit is smooth and more red, from photos I looked at online. Thanks though.

I think rdrboone hit it on the head with "Surinam Cherry, Eugenia uniflora"

Ky Kim · « **Reply #29 on:** December 08, 2007, 01:03:46 PM »

Wow, what a beautiful place he has there. Does he give tours...

.

Kim