February arrived with winds and freezing temperatures. A low temperature in my garden of 23 degrees! Out of state relatives also arrived fleeing even more severe weather of ice storms and below zero temperatures in Indiana. Even as the weather seemed unseasonably cold to us locals the sunshine and mid day temperatures here found my brother and sister-in-law wanting to be outside. In particular they wanted to visit the DBG to get a chance to see desert plants. As a first time visitor to the garden nearly everything was new, including the idea that palo verde trees had naturally green trunks and that a garden would try to protect tender plants with yards and yards of frost cloth.
Still in the midst of cold the local garden proves fascinating, giving my visitors a sense of place much different than what they find outside their door. There it is maple trees bare branches, grass and winter wheat under snow. Here we ate lunch outside on the patio and looked up into the olive trees. Nature provided a breathing space for cold weary visitors. Gardens do heal.