How easily we can dismiss the familiar. After 3 or 4 years of drought and limited out
of season rain, the rose garden is not as advanced as we planned. And after recent bursts of heavy rain
followed by days of extreme heat, some of my favourite roses are
struggling. Our heavy clay soil has
meant that some roses have wet feet at the same time as exposing their leaves
to extreme heat. Late summer is never
the best time of year for our roses, with fewer and smaller blooms.
Meanwhile, general tasks have become more
urgent; weeding, laying acres of mulch, deadheading so that blooms will
flourish again in the cooler autumn, checking for disease, cutting back rose-canes
to prevent further die-back, hoping against hope that some struggling roses
will pull through.
The many gorgeous roses flourishing despite the extremes in
weather, the exuberant climbing species roses sending up long canes, the
numerous bunches of perfumed, gorgeous heirloom roses picked, have all been
largely overlooked.
So it took a chance read of a slightly tattered, well
thumbed 2013 Vogue Living magazine at our local cafe to help me gain
perspective.
An article interviewed ‘famous’ personalities exploring the
idea of luxury; what defines luxury for each person. In our culture of plenty, the concept of
luxury is often annexed to status and wealth.
The accoutrements of status are purchased and displayed; a house in a
desirable location, luxurious motorcars, designer clothing and jewellery, and so
on.
A culture that largely defines luxury only as an object that
can be purchased misses out on the truest of luxuries. The seemingly insignificant; birdsong, leaves
blowing in a breeze, sunlight on our back, green grass and trees that provide
respite and shade to be enjoyed in this harried, torn-with-strife world.
Alice Waters, advocate for seasonal, locally grown food and
chef/proprietor of Chez Panisse Restaurant in California, defined her concept of
luxury as an ‘object’ from nature. She described
her friend’s garden full of heirloom roses; each rose filled with perfume a ‘work
of art’. I love her brief description invoking
the idea that we can draw from nature an appreciation for beauty, a sense of awe
at the creative and unique.
Roses have been admired and painted since antiquity. Redoute (1759 – 1840) is renowned for his exquisite
watercolours of roses, building on the traditions of early Dutch painters of
botanical subjects. A prolific artist, Redoute
continued to paint even through the French Revolution, bringing beauty to a
world of horror.
So now, as I go out into the garden to dead-head the roses, I
can again appreciate the luxury of picking any number of beautiful blooms, of
filling buckets with glorious ‘works of art’.
Thank you Alice Waters for reminding me what true luxury is.
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