By Cheryl Anderson
How lovely, a pot of lantana on deck
There’s one thing most everyone has tucked away in their fondest of memories and that is of a garden. Often it is our mother’s or grandmother’s garden. A hand clutching our small hand walking us through the garden where colors we continue to love or favor in our gardens were first realized. Maybe it was the configuration of the pathway that seemed perfect as we negotiated the curves. Or, holding in our two outstretched hands holding that first tomato we took care of and watched grow…we were so proud.
Close-up of a “triangle” of seasonal plants maintained by a local garden club. Garden clubs are so important to every community
The charming garden behind the restaurant, La Bastide de Moustiers
A garden ornament can be charming. The San Antonio Garden Center chose a perfect one
Pure perfection are blue morning glories
Among the memories of those first gardens, may be the scent of the earth after a rain, certain flowers or how warm was the sun…sublime. Encountering these same visuals and scents in gardens later in life conjure up those fond memories. Perhaps it’s roses in the hot sun, their scent filling the air. Nasturtiums, geraniums, and honeysuckle too have their own unique scent. Olfactory memories often stay with us all of our lives. But, is not, in some way, the memory of that first garden, the memory of which has stayed with us the longest, the one that propels, encourages us to want to create our own garden? Trying to somehow recreate that magic and sense of wonder.
Roses, roses, roses…be they bushes or climbing are always a hit in any garden
A place to sit and contemplate how lucky I am to be in Menton
This was my garden in Cap Martin. I miss it, but enjoyed it for over 20 years. Sadly, the property was sold and torn down. But, garden memories last forever.
Again, roses caught in the morning sun
A pretty pink tree that caught my eye… I put it to canvas
I remember gladiolas five feet tall in the never ending sunlight during the summers in Anchorage, Alaska. My mother, a Texas born, Army wife, was so proud of them. Who knew they could grow so tall. Insanely blue morning glories trailing all around my grandmother’s back door in the hot Texas sun. I can’t see a blue morning glory and not think of her… even when I spotted one hanging over the railroad tracks in Menton. Dahlias the size of saucers in San Mateo, California, my uncle’s pride and joy. And, never to forget, seeing miles and miles of cherry blossoms in all their magnificence along the coast in Japan and then again in Washington, D.C. during the Cherry Blossom season. Truly, for me, numinous moments. I venture to say all of us have memories of a garden’s glory. Aren’t they wonderful to think about when the trees are bare and the sun has not shown its face for days?
A Monarch enjoying my yellow lantana
A glimpse of a tiny part of, Jardin Serre de la Madonne, Menton. A must see in Menton
My painting effort capturing the Japanese bridge at Geverny
A quiet Jardin Méditerranée in Menton
A single blue morning glory over railroad tracks made me look
We have all traveled and toured. On occasion, the memories so often brought back from these sojourns are those of gardens. Maybe a flower, tree or blooming bush made us look…it’s remarkable perfection caught our eye. To my amazement, when I first began my years visiting Menton flowers I had grown to love as a child in Texas grew there in abundance…lantana in colors I had never seen before and enormous bowers of pale blue plumbago spilling over stone walls, petunias surrounding lamp posts and that ever popular Texas favorite, geraniums…a favorite in flower boxes in the summer months in French villages. Menton was new to me, but welcoming seeing the flowers so familiar and to this day remain among my favorites.
Geraniums in a flower box in a French village. Truly, the most popular flower for the boxes in the windows
Remarkable how petunias on a lamp post don’t at all seem anything but perfect
Orange lantana in Cap Martin along the walk-way livens up the concrete
Imagine plumbago cascading over a stone wall like a waterfall
Bright orange lantana in the middle of town…Menton. Not necessarily a garden per se, but flowers always liven up unexpected space…large or small and catch your eye
A grand garden, in every sense of the word, is Giverny. Monet’s garden sports water lilies, rose trees that cover the balustrade of his house, nasturtiums that fill the central allée beneath iron arches covered with climbing roses. I’ve walk across the famous Japanese bridge where wisteria hangs and I felt as though I was walking through a Monet painting. He was inspired by the Japanese prints he collected for the water garden. Flowers for the Clos Normand (the flower garden on his property) were chosen for their color, how beautiful they were together as they flowed from one to another, thereby creating the inspiration for his art. And just how many gardeners does it take to keep that garden looking so remarkable? If I were to visit now, I wonder, how would the garden have changed? Are the varieties of flowers that grow there now the same varieties as what I saw in 1983? Albeit there may be changes, I will long remember my visit. The yellow dining room is remarkable…and was unexpected. Walking up the stairs into the dining room the vibrant yellow made for a space that was indeed up-lifting.
Thank goodness for all the hard working gardeners and societies around the world keeping public gardens beautiful for us to enjoy. Be it the garden in your backyard or gardens on the grand scale, such as Giverny, much love, effort, and hard work have been put forth to make them stunningly beautiful places to sit and walk, relax, and reflect. Or, perhaps it was just one flower that caught your eye in an unexpected place. Pause and take in the beauty! And, remember gardens can well be where beautiful memories are made. I hope you have many such memories.
Like a river of gold! The landscaper deserves a, well done! Walking around Vail it stopped me in my tracks
Jardin Bioves, Menton. I’m unable to count the number of time I have walked along the gravel paths or sat in the shade on one of the benches along the perimeter
A beautiful sight in early summer is a showing of bridal wreath. The blossoms are delicate and short lived, but a sure sign summer is coming
À bientôt
