The California Shakespeare Ensemble’s reading of ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ was just the right event for a lazy, warm Sunday afternoon at the tree-shaded Oaks Theater in Descanso Gardens. All the actors–well, except one who I won’t name–read their parts with suitable enthusiasm. The play, of course, is a bit of froth: romances, jealousies, mistaken identities and Shakespeare having fun with the English language.
I arrived at Descanso about an hour early and was absolutely shocked to see what has happened in the Rose Garden. Bed after bed of roses have been ripped out! In one case near the entrance to the Rose Garden, a collection of Japanese roses has been replaced with what appears to be a bed of violets that were not blooming! What are they thinking? Violets have nothing to do with So. California. If planted, they often die in our summer heat. The only answer I could come up with is that all the roses that have been dug up were old and the plan is to replace them. At least I hope so!
Descanso has always earned kudos from me because their roses were planted in flower beds mixed with other perennials–rather than roses being planted in isolated rows. But now I am really wondering about the decisions they are making. One other thing: supposedly this Sunday was a ‘Rose Festival’. Well, there were not many roses in bloom. I came across one rose with gorgeous white blooms, though.
Then, not far away, I found Matijila poppies in bloom in the California Native Plant garden. They are big, flashy poppies and by ‘big’ I mean that they stand four feet tall! To see more of Descanso Gardens, go here.
After the shock of the rose garden, I wandered around the paths that wind through the various gardens to see what else was going on and here is what I saw:
Originally published 2014
