What Happens when the Light Goes Down!

GREAT photo !

Yes, different after dark...

Wonderful effect David !

Oooo looke blueberry leaves!!!

"After Dark", "After Eight", and a reference to blueberries, too! Haha! You're all wonderful! :-) :-)

You know what they day, David, "Chocolate, coffee, men,.......some things are just better rich!" They should add colours to that too.
these colours are stunning!

The richer the better, Madperth, lol!

My wealth lies in my love of gardening , and my children - who give me the themes. The colour combos, and planting schemes, we end up with, always amaze me, when they happen! :-)

It must be so much fun! I've only ever done themed indoor rooms (I dabble in interior design & decoration) & I did a "Middle Earth" room for a friend's son. It looked like you were in a ruined castle! He totally loved it!
I think I'm going to have fun with the garden though!

You will have fun with your garden, with your talent for interior themes. Have found that a garden really is another room of the home, but outdoors. Working to a theme, I've found, stops me making a lot of impulse buys in garden centres, etc (if it doesn't fit in with the "theme", I just admire and walk away). Having said this, I can often find excuses to buy some plants for the "chocolate garden", on account of their colours or variety names - especially confectionery. I do try to stick to the story of "Charlie amd the Chocolate Factory", but our research opened up a whole can of worms, not to mention bags of chocolate slugs, snails, spiders and maggots (all Goy member Arlene's "fault", haha!).

Hmmmm! Definitely like the himalayan thing, but I'm more into the Buddhist angle, so wracking my brains now. Looking for biggish flat stones to put a stupa in (a kind of tower-effect thing). Pity the shed's the wrong shape! But maybe it could be altered to look like an altar! Sorry, terrible play on words, I know. Just bought some prayer flags to put up.

Hmm, Buddhism isn't the oldest religion in the Himalayan region (which, of course, incorporates several countries), but is, "in my book", now a major player. Where are the official summer and winter residences of the Dalai Lama? The oldest Tibetan buddhist monastery/centre in Europe is in Scotland, at Eskdalemuir.

Must admit (being a bloke) that my garden shed is definitely like an altar, and place of refuge from the outside world,lol! May take some careful alterations to make it fit in, without looking tacky.

Prayer Flags! When the kids and I were on a short break in Aviemore recently, we visited the Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie. The approach to the Red Panda's (indigenous to the Himalayan regions of Nepal, Tibet and China) enclosure is a bamboo walkway lined with strung-up prayer flags - lovely! Took pics, but don't yet know if I still have them! The planting was also from the region - well thought out, I thought! The walkway ended at the panda's hut, which had carved rooftop ridge decor and finials - very well done! Must add, all we saw of the red panda was his/her bushy tail dangling over the edge of a wooden treetop platform, lol!

Seems like you "need" a Himalayan Buddhist Cottage Garden. I see it now - swathes of himalyan poppies in shades of blue, white and pale yellow, with a bamboo shelter-belt/windbreak, the delphiniums replaced with giant Himalayan Lysimachias and Lilies, a few relevant, tactile grasses, your own Buddha head, perhaps a bonzai or two ( or dwarf rhododendrons in ericaceous compost) in a "stone" trough, and your shed as a "feature". :-)

Sounds fantastic!!
Buddhism might not be the oldest religion (the historical Buddha, Siddartha Gautama was a hindu prince!), but it's mine!
Yes, Samye Ling IS the one in Eskdalemiur, & it's where I went to see the Dalai Lama. I even met him in the prayer garden when I wandered off on my own. What an amazing presence, I was just spellbound & walked away stunned but amazingly calmed!
I might just go visit my aunt in Laggan & take a trip yo Kingussie! If you have the pics, please can I see them!
I know his main residence is in Dharamsala but not sure about the other.

Hmmmm! The shed would take some careful thought. It was a joke at first but.....
What kind of bamboo? I like the black one, but would it be too much? Nah, no Bonsai, too twee! Unless I can get Bonsai Elder & Linden!
It would also need to have maroon & saffron gold colours if poss (the colours of the monks' robes) Actually, I'm getting a few ideas as to what to do to the shed, I'll keep you posted!

Please do keep me posted - I am intrigued, now!

Maroon and gold combos would be stunning (thinking of Iris and Asiatic lilies right now - unless these don't fit in well with Buddhism - don't know).. Also, thinking of the purple and gold trappings of Ancient Rome, or the wrappers of chocolate bars !!!!!! I now agree that bonzai might look out of place, was getting a bit "carried away" there, lol!.

It must have been unforgetable for you to meet the Dalai Lama - and in a garden, too! :-)

Think that the "black" bamboo would not be good, stick to the natural-coloured varieties.

Will try to find those pics. :-)

My imagination is running riot now! I've already painted(!) my patio a yellowy cream colour, and had had the idea of painting mandalas on some of them (not going to ATTEMPT the sand ones!) but might darken the paint to saffron ( I have a box of pigments I could use). The shed is already maroon!
Yes, it was an unbelievable experience! There were lots of trees, & there were flags & prayer wheels everywhere. And the usual rhododendrons & stuff, not a lot in bloom, it was snowing in May! I'd like to get one of the prayer wheels they had, just to hear that sound in my garden! When he came in, I was going to leave, & he stopped me & told me to stay, that the garden was there to bring peace to all, & it wasn't his! I just stood there like a guppy of course!
Shame about the black bamboo, but I get your point.

Sorry, but I think that the dark stems of the "black" bamboo would clash too much with the planting, and not be at all peaceful (it is also far more expensive).

Now, am thinking of maroon clematis blooms standing out against a deep yellow trellis?!?

Wonderful experience for you, and love that He said that the garden wasn't His, but for all to enjoy - no wonder you won't forget this! My imagination is now running riot with images of a human guppy, haha!!!

Was putting pics onto disc last week, and these were among the originals. Hope I didn't delete them, as I sometimes do. Will check over the next couple of days, and let you know.

Are there any "taboo" plants in Buddhism? Something I've just now thought of, and,I think, would be interesting to know about.

That sounds wonderful. They could go where the geraniums are now, against the maroon shed wall,; the trellis is unpainted as yet! The willow screen is planted beside it, at right angles to it (to hide bins when it grows a bit, & I hope to make it into a living pergola/ seat!
There aren't any proscribed plants that I know of, although I think cannabis would be frowned upon drugs interfere with meditation & inhibit enlightenment) & opium poppies maybe, or anything that would kill.
It's all about doing no harm. I'll see if I can find out.