 |
| Sedum 'Little Missy' & Sedum telephium 'Matrona' 8 August 2021 |
It can be any time from the earliest intimation of fall, when wetland maples turn a searing red, to the third week of October, when gaudy leaves carpet the forest floor.— Madeline Drexler
Today I was thinking about how words that should not have a negative meaning somehow lose what could be deemed a pleasant one. Such is the word intimation which nowadays is all about a forthcoming event of doom.
The word intimate to me is a lovely word and I was pleased to find Madeline Drexler, a Boston-based scientist and journalist, use of the word and that it also brings us at this almost mid-August date a realization that summer is over. The coming fall should not be all that negative. Some of my roses will be coming back for their last hurrah.
Walking into my daily office to scan my plants (a recent obsession of mine) is one in which I seemed to ignore a little Mexican planter on one side of the door. In it is a little, very cute plant. Its name is Sedum ‘Little Missy’. When I checked on the plant label and its price of $3.50 I was immediately hit by a combination of sadness and the wonder that my Rosemary would have noticed such a tiny plant in a large nursery.
To me this realization is a fine intimacy, in all its positive connotation, of a quality my Rosemary had for little details, particularly in a garden. Yes, she liked her perennials and her roses and shrubs but she also delved into and explored the little plants that most of us would have ignored.
She is not around for me to thank her for the lesson. But a lesson in this intimacy is one I am well learning.
