Garden Senses

Showy Garden

Showy Garden © 2012 Bo Mackison

Of all the ingredients we employ in the creation of a garden, scent is probably
the most potent and the least understood. Its effects can be either direct and
immediate, drowning our senses in a surge of sugary vapor, or they can
be subtle and delayed, slowly wafting into our consciousness, stirring our
emotions and coloring our thoughts. ~ Steven Lacy

I lose my anxieties, my worries of the day, when I am strolling along the garden paths. Perhaps it is the full sensory experience – eyes feasting on a multitude of colors, drifting in and out of floral fragrances, accompanied by the rustling of the overhead leaves, the birds chattering, the flowers bobbing.

And even the senses that seem to be second tier senses in most experiences are available. An invitation is extended in the herb garden — pick a leaf, feel its texture, crush it and release the aromatics, awaken your sense of smell. Deep smell. Rich, luxurious, but ephemeral.

The garden is a sensorium, it offers a full sensual experience. Ah, the pleasures.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer of the seeded earth and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Ah, the gardens bring smiles to the faces of those who walk their paths…I’m smiling.

Following the Garden Path

Watering Allen Centennial Gardens

Crooked Gardens © 2012 Bo Mackison

Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.     ~ Henry David Thoreau

If ever I am in need of some spirit lifting, one of my first remedies is to find the nearest flower garden and follow a path or two. I seem unable to hold onto a bad mood or an angry thought or hurt feelings once I begin to wander from one flower bed to the next.

And for an even more delightful experience, one sure to make me smile and even laugh, I run through sprinklers and cool water drops while looking for the newest blossoms. There is nothing finer than to walk through a garden while being spattered with cool water from the twirling watering hoses – especially when it is 90˚ and there’s not a cloud in the sky.

These lovely gardens were photographed at the Allen Centennial Gardens on the University of Wisconsin’s campus in Madison. This summer the staff has added vertical tubes of color in all the flower bed, each tube’s color coordinates with the flowers and foliage. Fun!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.  She spends as much time as possible wandering in flowering gardens, usually with camera in hand.

Roses on a Trellis

Old Fashioned Pink Roses on Trellis

Old Fashioned Pink Roses © 2012 Bo Mackison

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray. ~ Rumi

I love planting the seeds of exploration. Looking at maps. Finding places that are unknown to me. Thinking I cannot go there, I do not know that place. Where would I stay? Who would I talk to?

Eventually I accept my fears, accept the anxiety that sometimes takes my breath away. I let myself be pulled by my unrelenting need to see anew, to satisfy my urge to explore, to follow my curiosity, and then to document what I see and experience with my camera and my journal.

I just decided to plan a new explore.

I have an incredibly hectic two weeks ahead of me. My son’s wedding is only ten days away. Soon there will be a houseful of relative. They are coming from the East Coast (my eldest lives within minutes of the Atlantic Ocean) and the West Coast (my sister-in-law and her spouse live within walking distance of the Pacific Ocean) and many geographical points in between — all eager to celebrate this joyous family occasion.

A few days after the wedding, Sherpa and I will head to Chicago for one of my biggest art fairs of the summer – a Thursday through Sunday affair at the Chicago Botanic Gardens.

And then I shall go on a solitary explore to a part of Wisconsin that I have yet to visit in the 33 years that I have been a resident here. More to follow. That’s a promise!

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and the owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC.

Falling Flowers

Falling Flowers

Falling Flowers © 2012 Bo Mackison

Find out where joy resides and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all. ~ Robert Louis Stevenson

A visit to the New York Botanical Gardens in New York City brought some unexpected sights. A leaf filled glass ceiling that dropped ropes of orange flowers,  a flowering fall.

Photograph taken inside a Victorian-style conservatory, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. Bo is recovering from her NYC trip, but she wanted to share one of her favorite sights seen on her trip.

Walk and Wonder

Peonies in Pastels

Peonies in Pastels © 2012 Bo Mackison

Seeing form with the whole body and mind,
Hearing sound with the whole body and mind
One understands intimately.
~ Eihel Dogen

I walked the perimeter of a nearby pond this morning. I have been walking it weekdays for the last few weeks, and it is my intention to continue walking the pond path until the snow flies and the way is no longer negotiable.

I continue to be surprised by all the activity that takes place near the pond. The American Lotus are gradually emerging from the water, first as mere bits of green, now many are flat pads floating on the surface.

An egret and a blue heron – I suspect both are males – eye each other from a safe distance. I have not seen any large nests except for the geese, so I surmise those mama birds may be on the other nearby lake.

The male red-wing blackbirds are also out in force, alert and watching the passers-by for their mates and nests are in the above trees. These blackbirds are the main reason I always walk with a wide-brimmed hat for protection. After experiencing the males swoop at my head on several occasions serving me with warnings to “move on,” I keep my head covered. I do not enjoy their startling game of “scare the humans.”

Today I had to make a detour through the woods as a papa goose was giving his seven babies some play time on the path, and since he eyed me wildly and threatened me with his wide-opened beak, I gave in and turned around. I was in no mood to take on an aggressive father.

Then while passing through the trees, I saw a snapping turtle, maybe two feet long including tail, digging at the side of the trail. She was preparing to lay her eggs, and had dug a hole four or five inches deep. Since I purposely do not bring a camera on my early morning walk, I have no photographs, only the memories I stored in my mind, and a few sketches I penciled in my journal when I returned home.

I am experimenting with the camera free walk. I have well learned the habit of close observation in the last five years of carrying a camera almost everywhere, but there are times when it seems the need for a photograph interrupts a train of thought I would like to follow, or a time of quiet I am enjoying. I will try it for a month, and then choose whether to carry my camera again or continue with a camera-free hour first thing in the morning.

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Bo Mackison is a photographer and owner of Seeded Earth Studio LLC. She is spending the rest of the day in her studio, matting and framing photographs for her first summer art fair — this weekend.

(57th Street Art Fair in Hyde Park, Chicago – June 2 and 3. More info to follow)