First full flush, a drenching rain, and the perfect song to ponder

May 1

Baptisia, from Julie’s Van Dyke Avenue gardens

It’s been exceptionally dry, and hot, in Raleigh NC this Spring, rendering the old adage ‘April showers bring May flowers’ blatantly obsolete. Besides the fact that there were no April showers to speak of, May’s flowers were already here in early March. I know I’m not the only gardener who, while glad to see jonquils in January, finds it eerie. But I digress right here in the first paragraph.

I like to intersperse found objects in my gardens. These angels got a nice rinse.

Anyway, last Saturday we finally got a drenching Spring rain in late afternoon, only to have the sun slide back thru the clouds just in time for a dewy golden hour. Steam rose off the hot streets. Mud puddles formed that needed splashing in. I felt like a child. I took my shoes off and walked thru the wet yard and checked on all the flowers. It didn’t take long for me to grab my camera and make some images around my house.

Here’s a few more. Click any image to view full screen.

First full flush. Show me the roses.

I remembered that a friend had just said to me the night before “You must go see the Raleigh Rose Garden. It’s in it’s first full flush!” So, I slipped my wet feet into some walking shoes and set out to visit this small park a couple blocks from my home.

Beyond the beauty of the flowers themselves, this place is a favorite of families and photographers documenting engagement proposals, graduations, proms, birthdays and quinceanera. I’ve witnessed all of them over the years. On this evening, like many before, I feel how the space creates equity for families of many diverse ethnicities. Shouldn’t that be the purpose of every garden?

The perfect song to ponder it all by.

A song by Nathaniel Rateliff and Gregory Alan Isakov called “Flowers” made it’s way to my ears and my heart on the very day I started creating this post. (If it was vinyl I would have worn the grooves down already.) You can listen and watch it here. I urge to listen as you look through the album of images below. The first verse says:

You can look at a rose, just any rose
Accept that it's perfect
Let it dry on the wall
But what is its purpose?
What is its purpose?

I’ll leave you to draw your own conclusions about the lyrics in their song titled "Flowers.” They are asking us to think about the purpose of things. What is the purpose of one rose? Of one garden? Of one life? What is the purpose of beauty? For me I continue to fill with gratitude and hope when I see flowers return each year. Even though I know the petals will fall, as Rateliff and Isakov say so well by the last stanza of their song.

Spring will yield to summer. Seasons will come and go. Our lives are short. But in this moment, maybe especially in this moment as chaos seems to swirl, I can choose to notice and to experience the exquisite beauty.