Monday, February 8, 2010

Passion of my life, naked poetry, mine forever!


A week or so ago Peter (Panayoti!) Podaras came by for a visit on his way to California: Peter is from Connecticut originally, although has spent most recent decades in New York. He is a gardener and hybridizer par excellence. He was startled by our sunny, brash weather. The snow may be blowing this morning, but virtually all of January was sunny and quite warm. Pete couldn't stop talking about our shirtsleeve winter weather.

It's no surprise that plants that evolved in sunny winter climates are evergreen (or perhaps more often ever silver): the Watersmart garden, shown above, is perhaps Denver Botanic Garden's most stunning showcase of the showiest drought adapted plants combined in superb vignettes. This is no surprise, since Lauren Springer Ogden did the initial design and it has been honed and polished by Dan Johnson, two stellar talents.

I have taken photos from this vantage point almost every month of the year (especially in the showy spring, summer and fall months). If asked, I might produce a few. But truth be said, the subtle interweave of neutral tints in winter is perhaps its greatest strength. It takes a real gardener to recognize the naked poetry of a garden in winter, someone like Juan Ramon Jimenez who declared "Oh pasión de mi vida, poesía desnuda, mía para siempre".

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