Cactus, succulents and rock are familiar features in Southwest gardens. As a desert dweller, I assumed there were no more beautiful cactus gardens than exist here in the Sonoran desert. That idea was turned upside down on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.
Back in my own little garden I have been working steadily to prepare for the intense heat of summer. One lucky bit of gardening is sharing geraniums with my friend Josephine. She and husband Steve have a wonderful mountain retreat north of Happy Jack, AZ. This is the second year that I have loaded up a truck full of my favorite peppermint twist geraniums and moved them up to her high altitude garden. Fortunately deer aren’t particularly fond of this plant and Josephine enjoys my geraniums for several months. The plants appreciate the cooler temperatures. In October I bring them back to the low desert for another growing season. This trip, after we delivered the plants we continued on to Winslow to spend a night at the La Posada resort and gardens.
Today it was to be 111 degrees in Phoenix. We hoped it would be cooler in Flagstaff. It was 90.
The arboretum was dry, the plants are struggling to thrive. Not yet recovered from winter some have a look of dry frosted leaves. Aspen trees have their fresh green leaves rattling in the breeze. Chimpmunks and song birds scamper about. If the rain comes the penstemon garden and the wildflowers will be beautiful in another month. Right now the lake is low, the paths are dusty and I sit on the bench and wonder what will we do if the rain doesn’t come?
On Thursday the weather turned fine in Paris. After a cold and very rainy spring the change in sky and temperature made everyone feel hopeful about the future. Both the Parisians and their visitors were outside. The museums of Paris are filled with wonderful art yet this day people were in the gardens.
In early May in Monet’s Garden the dutch iris are blooming. The bearded iris are in full bud, given a week of warmer weather they will be opening. The scent of wisteria is mixed with the scent of lilacs in the air. There are beds of pink tulips and lavender lobelia just outside the door of the famous pink house with the green shutters.
In ancient times much of the world paused from their work to celebrate flowers. The Roman Goddess Flora was celebrated in the spring. A Maypole was erected,with ribbons streaming down, hands reached up and the dancing began. Young women wore crowns of flowers in their hair. The beauty of life, flowers and fertility was thoroughly celebrated with the hope of a great harvest in the Fall. The celebration lasted several days with games, performances, feasting and drinking.
I became impatient listening to the tour guide explain 700 years of history. Already I calmly sat through a long bus ride from the port of Cadiz to Seville to get to the Royal Palace Gardens of Alcazar. I wanted only to see the garden. So. . . . I slipped away from our tour group.
Painting in plants creates art. This art is the highlight of the Jardin Botanico in Madeira, Portugal. Landscape design is a combination of texture, color, structure, climate and patience. An artist working in oil must allow time for the canvas to completely dry. The garden painter working with a palate of plants must wait for the art to grow.
Once I watched a tourist video the still photos in a hotel lobby. I wondered how those images would be used to relive that moment of the trip. Sometimes it seems the world is looking through a viewfinder and missing the view. I am as guilty of the photo obsession as anyone. Only 24 days into a 35 day journey and Rich and I have shot nearly 6000 images. Scanning through the collection I found my reward in the following images. None of these subjects will last beyond the brief moment when we were there. All were beauty worth capturing.
We are so accustomed to being just one thing, having one label attached to us, we are a teacher, a welder, a policeman, an artist. When we aren’t afraid of being more than one thing, magic is possible.
