Dispatches from the Garden

The Botanical Garden in the Bronx, NY is one huge magnet, which pulls me any time. I know a part of me is a horticulturist.



Obviously it's also a bridal parties magnet...


We are members, and I guess we make that membership really work hard for us...
We had been there only last week to see the Cuban Orchid Show, which is stunning. But I wanted to take you on a little tour in the Shop in the Garden, which is a design haven, flower shop and source of inspiration rolled in one!



I love those Eco spheres, self contained little worlds...and these cloches for greenery are so pretty. I have a weakness for beautiful plates and keep my collection contained by just taking pictures of them!


Every time I go to see all these small corners in this shop I promise myself to create a conservatory one day! I love green around me all year and to nurse orchids and tropical plants (and the winter outside) is a dream ...I see myself reclining in a comfortable rattan chaise, reading a book, tea on the table among the large plants in humid air...


A fountain would be there as well!

These posters are wonderful and with $8 very reasonably prized.


One can find beautiful vases, glass and ceramics, artisan teas, cache pots, dishes and tools, cosmetics and soaps(very fine and organically milled), lamps and jewelry, toys and clothing. Often made by artists, the offers are wonderfully mixed together and displayed in a delightful setting.



There is a large book section and I have spend there many hours browsing, reading and selecting.




Did you know, April is poetry month? I love poems and I found this book above absolutely amazing. Ruth Padel wrote a book about Charles Darwin's life in verse form. She is a prize-winning British poet and author, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Zoological Society of London. And great-great-grand daughter of Charles Darwin...
I started reading and could not put it down...



And of course I could not pass this one either...Doyenne of timeless style - Nancy Lancaster!

My library is growing! I guess the conservatory has to wait a little bit longer!





XX
Victoria


Pictures by V.Zlotkowski at the Shop in the Garden NYBG.

Easter

From Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: "Faust", translation by Edgar Alfred Bowring, 1853


From the ice they are freed, the stream and brook,
By the Spring's enlivening, lovely look;
The valley's green with joys of hope;
The Winter old and weak ascends
Back to the rugged mountain slope.

From there, as he flees, he downward sends
An impotent shower of icy hail
Streaking over the verdant vale.
Ah! but the Sun will suffer no white,

Growth and formation stir everywhere,
'Twould fain with colours make all things bright,

Though in the landscape are no blossoms fair.
Instead it takes gay-decked humanity.

Now turn around and from this height,
Looking backward, townward see.

Forth from the cave-like, gloomy gate
Crowds a motley and swarming array.

Everyone suns himself gladly today.
The Risen Lord they celebrate,

For they themselves have now arisen
From lowly houses' mustiness,
From handicraft's and factory's prison,
From the roof and gables that oppress,

From the bystreets' crushing narrowness,
From the churches' venerable night,
They are all brought out into light.
See, only see, how quickly the masses
Scatter through gardens and fields remote;
How down and across the river passes
So many a merry pleasure-boat.


And over-laden, almost sinking,
The last full wherry moves away.
From yonder hill's far pathways blinking,
Flash to us colours of garments gay.

Hark! Sounds of village joy arise;
Here is the people's paradise,

Contented, great and small shout joyfully:
"Here I am Man, here dare it to be!"


I love this poem from Goethe's Faust, I wish I could recite it in German to you. It is so lovely! It sounds a bit laborious to me in English, but the meaning comes through! Poems are so hard to translate...

Vor dem Tor

Vom Eise befreit sind Strom und Bäche
Durch des Frühlings holden, belebenden Blick,
Im Tale grünet Hoffnungsglück;
Der alte Winter, in seiner Schwäche,
Zog sich in rauhe Berge zurück.
Von dort her sendet er, fliehend, nur
Ohnmächtige Schauer körnigen Eises
In Streifen über die grünende Flur.
Aber die Sonne duldet kein Weißes,
Überall regt sich Bildung und Streben,
Alles will sie mit Farben beleben;
Doch an Blumen fehlts im Revier,
Sie nimmt geputzte Menschen dafür.
Kehre dich um, von diesen Höhen
Nach der Stadt zurück zu sehen!
Aus dem hohlen finstern Tor
Dringt ein buntes Gewimmel hervor.
Jeder sonnt sich heute so gern.
Sie feiern die Auferstehung des Herrn,
Denn sie sind selber auferstanden:
Aus niedriger Häuser dumpfen Gemächern,
Aus Handwerks- und Gewerbesbanden,
Aus dem Druck von Giebeln und Dächern,
Aus der Straßen quetschender Enge,
Aus der Kirchen ehrwürdiger Nacht
Sind sie alle ans Licht gebracht.
Sieh nur, sieh! wie behend sich die Menge
Durch die Gärten und Felder zerschlägt,
Wie der Fluß in Breit und Länge
So manchen lustigen Nachen bewegt,
Und, bis zum Sinken überladen,
Entfernt sich dieser letzte Kahn.
Selbst von des Berges fernen Pfaden
Blinken uns farbige Kleider an.
Ich höre schon des Dorfs Getümmel,
Hier ist des Volkes wahrer Himmel,
Zufrieden jauchzet groß und klein:
Hier bin ich Mensch, hier darf ichs sein!

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust I)

Goethe takes the emerging spring and turns it into a symbol of freedom and enlightenment! It is wonderfully written! I would translate the last line:

Old and young contently shouts: Here I am man, here I'm allowed to be!
And the 'Mensch' in the modern American understanding fits well too! We feel alive in the awakening nature!


Happy Easter!

XX
Victoria



Picture by V.Zlotkowski (From our bedroom into the magnolia tree)