Small Wonders
Paying attention. Slowing down, sitting still, looking closely, and appreciating each small detail as a joyous gift has become a part of how I experience a garden.
Often as I walk through the UC Botanical Garden in Berkeley, CA it’s hard to say what I love most — the towering rhododendron trees, the extraordinary cactus flowers, the beautiful red poppies, the peace of the cloud forest, or maybe the slope of the South African garden in full spring bloom.
The last time I was there, however, I brought my macro lens, a small attachment for my iPhone. I’m no photographer, but this lens changed the scale of my world, reducing it to minute details. As I tried to capture the shifting light and color I got lost in the intimate, sometimes nearly invisible, beauty and symmetry of the plants.
The California poppies were in full bloom with petals the color of sunlight, the brilliant orange mirrored in the small fingers of their stamen.
A bud forms in a perfect spiral with mathematical precision.
Delicate green, blending to brown points on new growth in the cactus garden.
A small, spreading ground cover, Lions Spore (Euphorbia clavariodes), pulled my attention with its tiny red buds. Each little mound was made up of a grouping of small pillow-like balls, and I admired the symmetry. It wasn’t until I got home and looked at the photos though, that I realized there was a tiny aphid, nearly invisible to the eye, in the center of one of the lobes.
Turutu Ink Berries (Dianella nigra)
Deep in the Australian section, under a huge Tasmanian tree fern, glowed rich purple berries, the color of iris.
The simple beauty of the native goldenrod (Solidago californica) gives lie to the perception that California native plants are too weedy to be “ornamental”.