Well all the planning, e-mails, phone calls and worrying are over and the trees are on displayed at the 18th annual International Flower and Garden Festival at Epcot (located at Walt Disney World Orlando Florida). This the the 10th year I have been involved with the committee and 4th year as chairman. To say I love doing this is an understantment. It is so much work but so worth it.
This year’s display has got to be one of my all time favorite displays. Amazing trees and wonderful exhibitors. I put together a little video and added som photos to see near the end of this post. Enjoy (and don’t forget to subscribe to my channel)
Today I was able to finish up the Zen garden that I have been working on. It was really just the detail left, and adding more bamboo to the fence that I had started last time.
I added horizontal poles in between the ones that were there from the initial build. It just looked too weak before so I wanted to beef up the look of the screen. I think it really worked and made it look just so much better. I’m really happy with it.
The blisters from last week were almost gone, however I certainly noticed them as I made 16 more lashings .
Here’s another close up of one of the many lashings I used. I was really getting good at them by the end of this project.
So all that is left is just to relax and enjoy. Finally some Zen…
So I continued working on the Zen garden today. I had one thing in mind, construct the bamboo screen. The purpose of the screen is to do nothing more than stop the eye from looking at the door behind it.
I wanted to make the screen look authentic so I didn’t use any screws. This entire fence was constructed using lashings. I haven’t done this since my Boy Scout days, but somethings you never forget. Here is a close up of one of the 63 lashings. Needless to say I had just about as many blisters.
From here you can see the door behind the screen that I was trying to distract from. I think it worked, and the light bamboo color compliments the green on the walls and the natural bamboo growing right next to it.
Okay this day was pretty brutal. I must have removed about 15 wheelbarrows of soil out of this garden. Backbreaking work, but extremely rewarding to see the final look. So over the past weeks I have worked to uncover the canvas of this garden, and now finally and I can see it. At this point the outline is now defined, and I have identified the items I want to keep. Also I have located placement for the three main stones. The sand is a little dirty, so it is not as white as it should be. I need a good rain to rinse it clean.
The bamboo in the top right of the photo bothers me a bit because it is located in the sand, and gives me an even number of objects. However its not my main focus right now.
From this angle you can see both mounds of soils are gone (thank goodness).
I now plan to add two bamboo screens to bring interest and contrast againt the green background as well as to hide the door. It has come a long way in a rather short period. I should be able to finish up this weekend. Wish me luck!
