Lens-Artists PC: Gardens

• Manja Maksimovič

After a long time I’m answering to a photo challenge that doesn’t involve doors. Amy pulled me in with gardens as her choice.

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Amy chose gardens for the theme of this week’s Lens-Artists challenge but actually I saw Sofia’s post first and her gardens made me think of a myriad of mine.

There is the garden where I grew up and where my uncle presides over his lettuce, beans and herbs.

There is the surprising garden on the coast where my parents have ended up happily growing their own produce.

There is the Roman garden where the cat and the dog don’t meet any more.

There is a pizzeria in Pitigliano with the most beautiful terrace garden in which you can eat.

There are many gardens, parks and plots with flowers, trees and vegetables that have drawn my glance.

There is Niki’s Tarot Garden where no new art grows since her passing, and a most beautiful wildflower garden that belongs to a fancy villa nearby.

There are gardens near my home into which I peek and desire what I see there. Maybe not the donkey as such, or that stony cat, but the happy flowers and arrangements.

There is my garden with one barking bestia, one struggling olive and a disco ball.

There is this Garden with questioned modern needs but that is a garden of stone.

But there will always be one Garden for me. And we need to get ourselves back to it.

Well maybe it is just the time of year
Or maybe it's the time of man
I don't know who I am
But you know life is for learning
...
And I dreamed I saw the bombers
Riding shotgun in the sky
And they were turning into butterflies
Above our nation

We are stardust
Billion year old carbon
We are golden
Caught in the devil's bargain
And we've got to get ourselves
back to the garden

---From "Woodstock", written by Joni Mitchell

This is my favourite version of it. I caught bits and pieces of this spirit in my life, but not recently.

And this is my life in gardens.

  • Let’s start at home: Olive and disco ball, as promised. Bestia is missing in the photo.
  • First neighbours: Wet donkey and the two Geese of the Apocalypse.
  • A most eye-pleasing bunch.
  • Camellia, I presume. Why can’t I have some of these? ADD-IT: It’s a wild rose! Thank you, Duša!
  • Or these. They look like what my grandma had in a vase and forbade me to touch them. They could get into my skin.
  • Well… Maybe not these.
  • Some gardens have pomegranates hanging and then nobody picks them.
  • This Roman garden has now a black cat for president. That plus pandemic has kept us away.
  • Villa Lante in Bagnaia in January. I can imagine that right now it’s much greener.
  • Pizzerila Il Noce in Pitigliano was the most wonderful surprise last June when my sister came to pick me up and take me to Slovenia.
  • Il Giardino dei Tarocchi by Niki de Saint Phalle in the south of Tuscany. With art in the place of flowers.
  • Nearby, in Pescia Fiorentina, a private villa had a garden open-door day. This is the prettiest meadow that I have seen so far anywhere.
  • As discovered in Prague in 2012 when Pearl Jam called me there.
  • A hop to Slovenia now. This is a typical Slovenian garden patch with some pretty blooming peas, I presume, in Gozd Martuljek.
  • Between 16th and 17th curve of the Vršič Pass there is Tonka’s hut with some particular growth.
  • The gardens of the villa Moj mir in Fokovci grow ingredients for the Vidov brejg line of products.
  • Arboretum Volčji Potok is the most popular botanical garden in Slovenia.
  • A flowery patch underneath an apartment block in Bežigrad, Ljubljana.
  • I love it how these two made their gardens in the air. Šarhova St., Ljubljana.
  • And we come to where it all started: my grandparents’ garden. Now my uncle rules here and for the first time in the history of this garden grows some vegetables. This is in July.
  • And this is the same garden in October. I rarely visit in the autumn and miss this view.
  • And this is the biggest surprise of my life: how my parents acquired this paradise in Piran and grew into happy food producers. Respect!
  • Right there in June last year. I hope to see it again soon.
  • And for the end, a memory of a wonderful day in Ljubljana Botanical Gardens with my sister. This is indoors jungle part.
  • Right there. Tree-hugger at heart. Photo: Sis.

For Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, hosted by Amy at THE WORLD IS A BOOK…: Gardens

29 thoughts on “Lens-Artists PC: Gardens”

  1. I’m glad you accepted that challenge. This is so beautiful.

    Btw we had that fluffy thing in a vase too and my mom didn’t allow us to touch it either. Now I bought the seeds to plant it on my balcony. Wish me luck. I’m very nostalgic about it.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Ahh! I can imagine it was not all that pleasant. I must return in greener days. It was rather brown. If you click on the tag Villa Lante you will see more photo from that day there. Thank you, Sue!

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    1. You’re most welcome, Teresa. We returned to this restaurant yesterday but it wasn’t nearly as flowery as this. It was my birthday, remember how we chatted last year? 😉 We had a great lunch and trip, even though it was raining without a good light for photos.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Oh yeah, was that a year ago already? Wow how time flies. I hope you had a great Birthday celebration and wishing you more years of happiness in blogging and in life in general. ❤️💜❤️💜

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