- Howdy, I'm John Hart Asher.

This week on "Central Texas Gardener," we're pulling from our archives to bring you a special episode spotlighting the Asian influence on gardening here in the heart of Texas.

Step into a meditative journey and Zen pond design at Rajat and Lisa Agarwal's garden.

Discover the art behind bonsai with the Austin Bonsai Society, and cook up a Vietnamese comfort soup with Trisha Shirey and Casie Luong in "Backyard Basics."

So let's get growing right here, right now.

- [Narrator] Central Texas Gardener's 30th season is made possible by Lisa and Desi Rhoden, supporting a love of gardening and nature for all communities.

- [Narrator] Want to know what happens to your recycled plastic?

Since 2004, H-E-B has turned 58 million pounds of recycled plastic into things like composite decking and Field and Future by H-E-B trash bags.

You can learn more at OurTexasOurFuture.com.

(bright music) - As we continue to celebrate our 30th season here at "Central Texas Gardener," we're excited to dig through our archives today for a special installment all about the Asian influence on gardening here in Central Texas, beginning with this profile of Rajat and Lisa Agarwal's Zen-influenced garden from 2022.

- Zen the word means that, you know, you have a journey from the world of man to the world of nature.

It's actually all about feeling good and bringing a little bit of nature into our environment and feeling, you know, the feeling of tranquility in our little piece of the world.

I love Japanese gardens because they are so natural and calm and peaceful.

And they have a property of, you know, introducing meditativeness.

It's very alluring to us.

We like the design principles that these gardens offer.

So typically you'll see mizu, water, you'll see ishi, which is rock, you'll see plants, you'll typically also see bridges and you'll see some representation of, you know, paths or walkways which kind of show interconnectedness with nature.

We started the pond in 2004.

Lisa got me a preformed 150 gallon tub, and that's how it all started.

We had never built ponds before.

We didn't have any experience with water or aquariums or anything like that.

So we just filtered the water, added fish, and it grew from there.

In 2016 the first element that we added was actually the red bridge.

I built that as an engineering project with my daughter, and it came out really well.

And so we didn't understand the concepts back then, and so we evolved the concepts from that point on.

And we started adding more elements, started reading more about Japanese culture and what it introduces and how we can do things, and so, to just bring the meditativeness into our lives.

The red bridge is called guzei, and, in Japanese, and it typically means a red, curved bridge.

So the characters on the bridge they spell heiwana shima which means peaceful island.

So now we have a in-ground pool, which is about 6,000 gallons of water.

It includes an island.

You go from one space from you know, outside the island path to the island.

And there's a little bench and bistro set on the island.

You can be, sit there and enjoy lunches most days.

Sometimes I'll go see the different colors of the fish.

It's just so relaxing to see them swimming around.

Just all the different colors and the patterns.

And carp is actually also one of the essential elements for a water garden.

- Each of our ponds has a black and white fish.

Those are also for the yin yang and balance.

You're supposed to also have one in each pond also for warding off evil: herons, raccoons.

- Yeah so we built a, because the pond isn't very deep, typically you'll have ponds that are over three feet deep and that's ideal.

So we couldn't dig that far because of limestone.

And so what I did was I created a system above ground.

So I built a, kind of a wall using just basic chicken wire and I strung fishing lines across it.

So the fishing lines are actually anchored with fish anchors, fishing anchors, so I can move them.

So there's a lot of practicality into it because I need to get into the water all the time.

So I've cut out some gates, which you can't really see, so they're kind of camoflauged and they kind of blend in.

But you can remove certain sections and panels from that chicken wire fencing that I've built.

And you can move the fishing wire because it's not tied down.

The above ground pond doesn't need the chicken wire system.

The reason is that I built these railings on the side of it so the heron can't actually land and get a footrest.

So the waterfalls are done in multiple levels.

So basically they're freestanding waterfalls.

They are structurally balanced.

And like if you look deep underneath, they're basically just cement blocks.

And I built the structure of large slabs on top of cement blocks and it's freestanding.

It's not connected to anything.

And then we built a above-ground pool about two years ago, I want to say.

The red Japanese torii gates are called akane.

Aka is the word for red.

And the meaning in Japanese is to ward off evil.

We don't necessarily need to ward off evil here but- - Can't hurt.

(laughing) - The whole, the whole, yeah, the whole meaning is very interesting.

Like if you start listening and learning about these things it adds a lot of value.

The structure is made out of wood.

The water doesn't really get into the wood because it's already all covered.

And the way I built the caps on top on the sides, it drains the water away from the sides of the pond.

That lantern is called a yukimi lantern.

It's actually your typical type of lantern which has feet.

The light in it is actually a LED flaming bulb.

It gives this impression that there's actually a flame burning inside.

I protect it from the water so that actually, if you're putting a flame bulb in the lantern and the lantern happens to be where you have your irrigation system going on, that can become a problem as I found out.

So the simple trick to save your bulb and the electrical is to just put a sandwich bag, plastic sandwich bag right on top of the bulb.

And the water, if it hits the bulb, it'll just drain off.

The whole environment that we've created helps me relax.

Just close your eyes, listen to the sound of water, the waterfalls, you open your eyes, you can see a beautiful garden in front of you, which is very relaxing.

It's meant to not be complicated.

It's meant to be simple.

Those are the Zen principles that we are trying to apply here is the simplicity and not having too much.

You'll see some of the Japanese gardens where there's a lot going on in the Japanese garden.

There's a lot of plants, there's a lot of things going on.

And we try to keep it very simple.

It's like that's not, for us, that's not what that's about.

It's about more having just enough, not too much, not overcrowding, not having too many colors, just the basics.

- Rajat and Lisa have since completely redone their backyard koi pond, adding on an eight foot tall waterfall among other impressive features.

They've also become koi dealers themselves through ATX Koi, the Japanese and domestic koi selling business they launched in 2025.

Rajat has even written a book, "Secrets for Happy Koi," which was released earlier this year.

Another Japanese gardening tradition that's been long celebrated here in Central Texas is the art of Bonsai.

Since its founding in 1971, the Austin Bonsai Society has served to guide and educate Austinites eager to expand their understanding of the ancient art.

And when we visited with them back in 2017, they were happy to do the same for us.

- People with art degrees love it.

Young people are getting more involved in bonsai because it's a focused art and it's a creation.

And you tell a story.

- The story behind this would be that perhaps there was a hurricane or something that pushed the tree over and then it started growing again once it was sideways.

- Bonsai design often takes its cue from nature.

- Bonsai represents tenacity and endurance.

And you have things that have experienced trauma or have experienced stress in the environment.

And those sort of things, they bring a kind of devastated beauty.

- [Speaker] Balance and emphasis comprise two elements of bonsai design.

- Bonsai has a front.

It has a viewing angle.

If you imagine that it's actually turned sideways, you don't, you don't get as much of that.

- [Speaker] Like any plant, success begins at root level.

- Sometimes you can get them in department stores where there's gravel glued on top just for appearance.

First thing you do is you take off all that glued gravel because you need water to penetrate through the root system.

- [Speaker] Avoid potting soil or compost.

Bonsai needs sifted large granules for aeration and shallow containers.

- The various components of bonsai soil include shale or calcined clay, akadama, which is a Japanese form of clay, sifted pine bark, and frequently, red lava.

So our finished bonsai soil is very porous, allows for a lot of oxygen to reach the roots and prevents root rot.

- [Speaker] Bonsai trees like oaks, ash junipers and elms need winter's cold.

Trees that change color in fall before dropping their leaves need that natural cycle.

- They stay outside all the time.

So when people put them in their house, they wonder why they die.

- [Speaker] Still, outdoor plants must be protected in winter since roots are restricted.

- I put them on the ground in between the benches.

And then if it's going to have a hard freeze, I can cover all of them at the same time to keep them protected from the wind.

Periodically, we will take them inside and we'll show them when we have guests when we have special events.

- [Speaker] Bonsai don't use gallons of water, but they do need thorough soaking.

- There are holes in the bottom of every pot.

And I think that's what so many people mistake in raising bonsai.

They don't water them enough so the water drains out the holes in the bottom of the pot.

- [Speaker] Training takes time.

Every few years when roots have filled the pot, they're trimmed back when dormant.

Growing in flat pots rather than deep ones encourages horizontal roots.

- After about three years of being in the bonsai training container that we see here, it's actually a lot like a cat litter size box, we're able to begin putting it into a entry level show grade pot.

We can take a tree from a training pot that's a lot deeper than is really necessary for a finished showpiece and work with it for a few years until we feel like it's ready to be moved from its training pot into a finished show pot, which is going to be quite a bit shallower.

And what this will do is give proportion to the trunk.

- Part of the art form of bonsai is that it's in a pot, and the pots can be just as artistic as the trees themselves.

This one is a handmade pot.

- [Speaker] Pruning for design can take years.

- When you go to start working on a bonsai, it's like everything else disappears.

All the worry, all the fret that you go through in life.

- This looks more like a bush instead of a tree.

This branch is very long.

You will cut it back.

And the way you trim it is at the angle of you want it to grow.

I want this branch to grow this way and not be longer than all the others.

- There's a Japanese word called bunjin, and it's basically this long, thin line that resembles calligraphy, it's beautiful.

There's cascade, so it looks like a tree is growing up on a mountain and it's cascading down the side.

- [Speaker] Anodized aluminum or anneal copper wires help shape.

- And that is just there to give the branch direction, to change the angle, maybe give it a little bit of movement.

And much like braces on your teeth, you take them off once it is set.

- [Speaker] Many plants qualify for bonsai.

The Austin Bonsai Society rescues plants from the wild or starts from nursery pots.

- This is a loropetalum.

And it will, it's a fringe loropetalum.

- This is a Japanese boxwood that a lot of people have in their front yards.

And when people re-landscape their plants, re-landscape their yards sometimes, you know, these things become throwaways.

But to us the, years have been spent growing out the trunks, growing out the branches, and we then give it shape and form to, often to mimic trees in nature is the point.

But sometimes we'll do things with an artistic touch that doesn't even mimic trees in nature.

- This is a trident maple that was field grown for about five to seven years.

And it's been topped from about 14 feet down to its current one foot stump.

And then a progression, in about three years we might see this evolving into a beginning of a tree that has some structure of branching and some curvature that has been applied by wire.

- [Speaker] To help new growers get started, the Austin Bonsai Society holds meetings and workshops along with its annual show and sale at Zilker Botanical Garden.

Elaine founded the Texas Bonsai Exhibit to preserve heritage plants in private gardens until a permanent exhibit is built.

- We have these beautiful old trees that people have had and they've spent decades working on.

And then maybe they're not able to care for them anymore.

So we are able to care for them and then put them back out to view, for the public to view.

- These days, bonsai in Austin is still going strong with the Texas State Bonsai Exhibit celebrating its 26th anniversary this year.

To take in a display of heritage bonsai maintained by the organization, head on over to Zilker Botanical Garden's Taniguchi Japanese Garden.

Longtime viewers of "CTG" will remember Trisha Shirey well.

For many years, she was a fixture of our "Backyard Basics" segments before retiring from her role as Flora and Fauna Director at Lake Austin Spa Resort, and then returning to her North Texas roots.

Here she is back in 2017 with Casie Luong demonstrating how to use homegrown herbs when making a traditional Vietnamese soup.

(bright music) (birds twittering) - Hi, I'm excited to have Casie Luong back with us today, and we're going to do a quick soup that takes advantage of some of our garden herbs.

- The soup is called Canh Dau Hu He which means Vietnamese tofu and garlic chives soup.

- Okay, and garlic chives are super easy to grow and very delicious.

And I can't wait to see how you put this soup together.

And it's a really quick and easy soup.

- [Casie] We're going to just turn the heater up to low and we're going to add some olive oil.

And then we're going to saute some garlic and lemongrass that Trisha brought today.

- And that lemongrass is sliced very finely.

- [Casie] And then as I'm preparing this, Trisha, would you like to tell us what other herbs and- - Well, you could really flavor this and make it as flavorful as you want.

I mean, I might put some hot peppers in and saute those at this step.

Some of the shishito peppers or maybe a hot cayenne type pepper.

Cilantro would be great, Thai basil, parsley, Italian flat leaf parsley.

And then there's a herb called lovage that's a celery sort of flavor that I really like.

But it's really very, a very flexible soup.

You could add meat to this if you wanted to.

We're doing a vegetarian version today.

- Yeah, meat, ground pork, anything that'll add and make it a little bit heavier so- - And you would saute the ground pork first... - Yes, you would saute it.

...with this step.

And the recipe is going to be on the "Central Texas Gardener" website, so you can check in with that.

And I'm going to chop up some herbs.

So we're just going to add those herbs a little later at the very finish, but I'll chop these up kind of fine.

And then we've got the garlic chives cut up into about inch to inch and a half long pieces.

And we'll put that in toward the end too.

- All right, and as I'm adding the broth, I'm going to let it continue to simmer a little bit.

It's heating up here.

Taking a little bit.

And then you've got some diced firm tofu.

- Yes, I get medium firm tofu.

Make sure you drain it.

Add that in there.

And just continue to let it simmer and boil for about 10 minutes.

- Okay, Casie, we've got a simmering pot now, so it's time to add the final seasonings.

What have you have got there?

- I've got some salt, sugar, and pepper, which I'll just add right on in.

- Okay and now I'm going to add those herbs.

Here's the garlic chives which you call he.

- [Casie] He, exactly.

- And then got a little cilantro, parsley, lovage, little Thai basil.

- Perfect, very important note that whenever you do add these in, immediately turn off the pan.

So then let everything just kind of simmer and cook.

- And then you're ready to scoop that up.

And then how would you serve this?

- [Casie] You can serve it with a little bit of rice or just eat the soup as it is.

- That sounds excellent.

It smells wonderful.

For "Backyard Basics" I'm Trisha Shirey, thanks for watching.

- We are joined now by Trisha Shirey, who graciously made the trek down to Austin to be with us here today to catch up.

Trisha, how are you doing?

- I'm great, and it's great to be back.

- It is wonderful to have you.

I grew up watching you on the show, so I'm thrilled to be talking with you today.

This time, you're going to be the interviewee, so we're going to flip the script a little bit.

But you started here at Central Texas Gardener in the early 2000s, is that correct?

- Yeah.

And a few years back before that, I had filmed a segment on John's show called "The New Garden."

And we taped those to VHS tape so you know how long ago it was.

And met Linda and she invited me to come on the show.

And John and I started to split the "Backyard Basics" segments.

He did two a month, I did two.

And Skip Richter was the extension agent.

And Tom Spencer was the host so a lot of changes in the lineup over the years, but it's still a fabulous program.

And I do watch it in the Dallas-Fort Worth area too.

- Oh, well, wonderful, well, over your time that you were here with the show, you know, there's a lot of subjects y'all talked about.

What are some of the biggest changes that you've sort of noticed?

- Well, I do think that people are more interested in native plants and water saving and planning for pollinators.

That seems to be a huge interest.

And I certainly welcome that.

And I you know, people are wanting to grow things that they can eat too, make their gardens useful for everyday living.

So, but I do think that a lot of our gardens are becoming our places of enjoyment.

It's where we want to just go and hang out and relax and enjoy our property.

- Right, it's sort of our little refuge, so to speak.

So we're celebrating our 30th season here.

And you're a, you are certainly a hall of famer.

And I wanted to talk a little bit about, you know, your history with the show too.

Are there some favorite segments or highlights that you remember when you were working with the show as well?

- Well, I always loved it when I was bringing in food and drinks and popsicles and things like vegetables.

And one of my favorite things about being on the show was the fans love the show.

I mean we, the, it's such a solid fan base.

I would be at H-E-B, Home Depot, all kinds of places, and people would walk up to me and say, "We love the show and we're so happy."

A lady came up to me one time in Dillard's and said, "I need to give you a big hug because I see you in my living room all the time.

I feel like you're one of my friends."

So that was such a special part of the show.

And I still get recognized in the Dallas area.

- Well, you're pretty famous, I'd have to say.

Well, today we've been taking our time to look back at some different gardening moments.

And the theme of this show is Asian influence in gardening.

And we're wondering if there's any sort of thoughts or inputs that you might have on that style of gardening.

- Well, I appreciate Asian garden aesthetic, and I really do enjoy a beautiful Asian garden.

But I'm kind of a more is more gardener.

You know, I'm not in the simple aesthetic at all, but I do have an appreciation for it.

And I know we did several Asian themed cooking segments on the show, and those were a lot of fun and got a lot of viewer interest.

- Are there any sort of Asian plants specifically that you might think about that are good to utilize or that you- - I love lemongrass.

It's one of the things I have to have.

I actually have a pot of lemongrass for my dogs because they love to chew it.

It always looks terrible, but it's just one of their favorite things to just stand and chew on.

The garlic chives, I try to keep to a minimum because they do take over, but they come in so handy for chopping up on soup or putting in spring rolls and things like that.

And of course, cilantro and the mints too, so lots of those herbs and things that add a lot to Asian food.

- Wonderful.

Well you are now up in North Texas.

Can you tell me a little bit about that?

- I moved to Weatherford.

I have family in that area.

I am living on some acreage now in Weatherford and having a really fun time finding new plants all the time.

I take a walk every day and find something new and different that's not something that I'm used to seeing from my 40 years here in Austin.

Just planting lots of native plants, having a wonderful time watching the pollinators and the road runners and the turkeys.

And it's just a lot of fun being out and about like that.

Not a lot of problems with deer.

I do have some bunny issues, but just enjoying being out in a rural setting like that.

- Amazing, well, I wanted to be sure and mention, so you were supposed to come back and speak on the show because you wrote a book a couple of years back and then something happened, what happened?

- Well, the book was released right as COVID hit.

And we had a, we were scheduled and it had to be canceled.

And then life intervened.

A lot of things happened in the interim.

So took me five years to get back here, but I love coming back and seeing the new studio and the same faces involved with making this great program.

- [John] What is the book?

"How to Grow Great Vegetables in Texas," right?

- Well, I did a lot of gardening classes at my job at Lake Austin Spa Resort and helped teach people how to garden.

And I coached a lot of friends with their gardens.

And I thought, well, you know, I need to have a gardener's handbook that tells them these kind of basic things for beginner gardeners and a month by month guide of what to do.

And as people would ask me something, I was like, "Well, that needs to be in the book."

And so Timber Press asked me, asked me if I would be interested in writing the book.

And so I got on board and wrote a first one that was "Gardening for the Southwest."

And then they asked me to rewrite a second one just for Texas.

But the book has done well.

- All right, well, Trisha, I want to thank you so much for coming on today.

It's so wonderful to speak with you and see you, see you again and have you on here and to talk about, just catch up and your perspective on the show.

And we want to thank you for the work that you've done because we can't have enough folks like yourselves and educators are how we keep on keeping on.

So thank you so much, Trisha.

- Okay, well, thank you very much for inviting me.

- All right, well, that's our show.

Be sure to check out centraltexasgardener.org for tips, resources, and to watch online.

Until next time, adopt the pace of nature, her secret is patience.

(bright music) - [Narrator] "Central Texas Gardener's" 30th season is made possible by Lisa and Desi Rhoden, supporting a love of gardening and nature for all communities.

- [Narrator] Want to know what happens to your recycled plastic?

Since 2004, H-E-B has turned 58 million pounds of recycled plastic into things like composite decking and Field & Future by H-E-B trash bags.

You can learn more at OurTexasOurFuture.com.

(bright flute music)