Be patient, flower girl.
Take time to grow,
Teach the importance of knowing.
Taking a look at perspective
It is always changing.
Leave dried seed heads and grasses
Pruned back only to promote new growth each spring.
Preserve the natural character
Living in the decaying wood
So richly adorned with wildflowers.
Be patient, flower girl.
Require fire to germinate.
Living stones send up tiny jewel-like flowers
[Please do not climb on the rocks.]
An equally fierce group of grasses
Flourish in the dry exposed terrain
Evokes the ripples and swirls
Each rotation symbolizes an uttered prayer.
[Stay on path, stay on path, stay on path.]
Much more than just portals or barriers
Notice the views that are framed.
Pomegranates and palms, the Etrog,
(It’s humble role in fruitcake)
To heal swelling and sore throats.
How do plants meet and fall in love?
More, or less, tragic deaths.
In spring, the queen bee does all the work.
Wintercreeper, (don’t) be a smart ash,
Uncle Fogy, mock orange, Devil’s dung.
Caution. Closed for the season.
[Push pull, push pull, push pull.]
Contemplate in tranquility.
Rock gardening was pioneered by the Czech
[Please do not climb on the rocks.]
Golden full moon maple, beard tongue
Give meaning to the design
(Start of training unknown.)
Be patient, flower girl.
Landscapes painted with flowers
Take time to grow.
Katelin Gaeth works in the education department at the Denver Botanic Gardens. She’s also a graduate student of biology with the Denver Zoo and Miami University, where one of her goals is to connect local communities with native plants in new and intriguing ways.
