Wednesday, September 10, 2014

The lost garden...

She couldn’t say exactly when she had fallen asleep or when had she began to dream… but she had no doubt this had to be a dream… it just had to be! A dream so real though, that she saw herself standing there, right in the center of this garden in her dreams, in fully awakened senses…  


Oh she remembers having being there before… in this overgrown, disheveled, yet still lovely garden. She remembers living intensely and happily there once… but when, or how log ago was this? She couldn’t remember… 


This was certainly a magical place… and yet, somehow, it was the wrong magic. What she saw made her shiver… she didn’t like it at all… what she saw was an unloved garden… for how could one love something and forget to confer it the proper love? The efficient, tender loving care a loved garden requires?


The girl saw that weeds had taken over the lovely pebble paths, that the morning glory grew rampant, taking over places where they should have not been, and she saw that the English ivy that had been once removed from its roots had appeared again and it was now digging its tendrils into the walls of the house, tearing it apart… like water expanding in a crack…


The girl saw too that grape vines and the Virginia Creeper had taken over an entire area, hanging thick over shrubbery and trees like swinging curtains… a storm must had passed through the garden at some point, for the girl saw that her favorite tree had been cracked in half; its lovely white trunk exposed and bared and now the once perfect shaggy leafy mane stood hanging over shrubbery and adjacent trees like a sad broken brown crown.


In the flower beds over the right, the mint had grown rampant and it had taken over the place almost in its entirety…. but the saddest thing of all were the roses… oh the lovely lovely roses. 


The Orchid Masterpiece Climbing Rose the girl had planted that spring just before she left her gardens had not survived… its remains quietly rested on a bed of weeds…


Half of the long canes of the Golden Shower climbing rose should had been pruned right to the ground, because half of the rose hadn't survived the winter and it wasn’t doing good, but nobody seemed to notice these things, or care about it… oh but the girl could. She could see and hear beyond what the average human could see and hear… and thus she heard the garden’s song...

 
The girl was sure it was a sad song… a song that spoke of abandonment and neglect… and deep deep down from the bottom of the garden arose another song.... she heard it too, and understood.  It was the song of regret sung by her own little heart… 

Quickly, the girl pushed apart the tall garden phlox growing around the rose bushes and foxgloves, and there, among the weeds growing freely on the flowerbed’s floor there she saw something else… the vision of another garden… a garden far far away sitting right on the way of the southern winds... the girl smiled happily. Her little heart now softened and purified. She then said her goodbyes to this garden, and left.


PS:  Our voyages have taken us to the west coast these days, and right now we are in San Diego where my husband is attending some meetings while I enjoy the sceneries and little shops in the area… and think of you too, and how close I may be from some of you! 

It truly is a beautiful place, with beautiful trendy people and the breezy warmth and palm trees and amount of flowers certainly add to the beauty… you feel as if you’re walking in Paris or in some other European city… oh oh and I’d discovered a little Goodwill close by that’s just amazing… I may have to go there again and get me a new skirt ;) Did you notice that on the photograph I posted on my previous post (taken at the Desert Garden on Balboa Park) I was wearing the exact same skirt and top I had wore last time I visited the house in the rose, five months ago? Yes, my profile picture on the right was taken during that visit. Embarrassing… ;) 



6 comments:

  1. Oh I knew you would go to the house in the roses and was hoping it would be in better shape than it is. No one will ever take care of it the way you did. The care came from your heart.
    Wow I cant believe you are San Diego. I live about 30 minutes from downtown San Diego in north county, in Escondido.
    I would have loved to meet you for lunch while you are here.
    Enjoy your stay, it is beautiful here.
    Sherry

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  2. They say you can never go home and that is true. My Daughter decided to visit our last home that she grew up in and she was not happy. It has been 16 years since we sold our home there. We use to live on top of a hill with 4 other nieghbors. She could not believe what had happen to the wonderful place. It seem that three of the homes were boarded up and was n forclosure and the once beautiful hilll and lawns were now over grown with bushes and weeds and the homes boarded up and vandalized.

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  3. I am sorry to hear that your last garden is in disrepair. This happens so often... I am moving soon and am fortunate to be in a position to take many of my plants as I know they will not be cared for and probably uprooted and taken to the dump. I will not return to this old garden as I have many friends like you are disappointed about what has happened to their beloved garden. Best wishes, Rachel.

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  4. I am back visiting after being on a break for most of the summer. I am so sorry, Cielo. It is heartbreaking for sure. We have moved 15 times and established gardens and rehabbed houses. I don't go to visit the ones I loved best anymore because it makes me sad to see them. Peeling paint- plants left weed-choked or dead or dying. It is just sad-too sad.

    I hope you enjoy your trip to San Diego and you come home refreshed and ready to love your new home even more. xo Diana

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  5. Oh, you will love the garden awaiting you.. This may not mean the garden is unloved... But I can't imagine anyone having your combination of love, gardening knowledge, vitality, and green thumb magic! It wouldn't be the same without you there every day... But so much of what you began will carry on. Sometimes I pass a spot of farmland where nearly a hundred years ago there was a home... And I see beauty... Roses, maybe even reverted to wild, orchid purple flowers, iris, I think... Glads... And bushes planted by some beautiful soul such as yourself... What the heart has loved, it cannot lose. Your House in the Roses is never going to be lost... And such beauty and mystery and promise awaits at the little white cottage.... She is missing you! Hugs from MO...

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  6. I'm sorry to hear that your beautiful garden has been neglected Cielo. Some folks just don't have the patience, dedication and interest that it takes to care for a garden. I'm sure it will be a relief to return to the little white cottage and tend to your gardens there. Glad to hear you're in San Diego. Lots of shops there for sure and delicious weather too. To me, southern California is the most beautiful place on earth. I grew up there, not too far from San Diego.

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