Joesays

\     I chose to plant an avocado seed in March 2018 in a room in my house, while the gloomy cold of winter hovered outside. I did not have any expectations. I was in a gardening phase where I was planting seeds from whatever fruit or vegetable I was eating. With the avocado pit in  around deep pot covered by soil, I put the pot near the window where the sun poured through in the morning. In May, I noticed with delight that the avocado tree was growing, as a firm stem had popped up above the soil.     The Avocado tree is not fond of cold weather. Although Mr. Haas of the Haas Avocado was from the winter wonderland of Milwaukee before moving to Pasadena, the Haas Avocado was a graft from the Fuerte Avocado type. The Avocado tree is grown in Southern California in the United States, where the climate is dry and warm The United States Department of Agriculture  has a plant hardiness map (PHZM), which lists 18 different climate zones for the USA. Southern California has a hardiness zone of

         I envisioned the garden. I sowed the seeds of the garden. I watered the garden. I harvested the garden. The garden was my hands, built from my intention that fueled my energy to create and form. But more than that, the garden involves the many moments beyond the designing of the garden, and sowing the seeds, for the garden also involves when the sun catches then garden during the day, or when the rain falls on the garden, or when I walk in the garden looking at the flowers and the stems and the soil. All of these add to my original idea of the garden. From my original creation of a garden, I created infinite possibilities involving those moments of the garden within the garden and linked to the garden.     In my heart, I decided to grow vegetables, even though I had never grown vegetables before. Instead of seeing the space in my backyard as the site of my garden, I looked at other sites always seeking the spot for the garden. Then  I listened to the voice of my loved one, and

      And as I was falling asleep I saw in a garden the girasole, which captured my imagination. The girasole is a massive green stalk that grows tall, with broad green flappy leaves surrounding an elegantly centered yellow crown. The girasole is very sensitive to the movement and position of the sun, for it turns to always be in favor of the sun’s direct light. Inspired by the girasole as it faded from my sight, I now glimpsed  a more powerful flower rising through successive stages of energy arising from the earth to a golden crown top. This rising flower I now saw had a thick support stalk, straight and suppled, providing ample space for the seven flowers to root and grow, eventually large enough so as to droop from their perches.     Within the flower was a rainbow. The rainbow came through the white sky and formed an arc in the vision heralding the colors that decorate the inner kingdom, where the seven flowers are always in bloom. However, when separated from their life energy, t

        In my small backyard are three rose bushes that rise to my height. They are skinny near the soil but expand outward full of branches bearing roses and green small flowers. They are full of life, blooming with the full power of the sun. They are also tossed about by the wind and the rain, which makes them heavy bending them towards the ground, where they hang like bent old women, afflicted with osteoporosis. Yet, they are still full of youthful wrath, for as I try to lift the branches up again, the thorns bite me and scrape me. Though they may be heavy with rain and age, they still are strong and bold.     As symbols of beauty, roses cascade our poetry in great abundance, preserved forever in the words throughout the centuries. These roses are history of the great love have for the eternal beauty of the universe. In life and in death we find rose bushes. By the great cemeteries of the past we find vintage rose bushes renowned for their color and their vitality, as they hang over