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It was love of first sight! No, it was not my husband, or even my babies. It happened during my first trip abroad in Florence, Italy in the Uffizi Museum. There she was, “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli, hair flowing, with angels around as she rose from the sea in a clamshell. It turned out I am among the millions who love this painting and I have heard it is the most reproduced in marketing next to the “Mona Lisa” by Leonardo Da Vinci. Lucky me, it was not the last time I was able to gaze upon this great work of art, but this last March, I visited again and something new struck me just as emotionally charged.
It grabbed my heart, and my soul was stirred and I could not move to look at another. This time it was the “Primavera”, again by Botticelli. So maybe I am a little fickle but at least it was the same creator. While admiring this painting I was entranced by the classical characters in a flora environment which it turns out is an orange grove. The painting has been written about more than any other painting, so says Wikipedia. It’s set in an orange grove and maybe for this Florida native there was a pull toward it. In true fashion of a Renaissance painter, Sandro was not just an excellent technician of tempera painting, but he was interested in the true nature of the plants he was painting. Therefore, I was informed, there are over 200 species of plants that can be clearly identified. He worked with a botanist. When Botticelli worked with this scientist of botany, he wanted the leaves to be perfect, the flowers exact, and the environment to be realistic even though the people were from mythology and their form idealized.
https://www.italianrenaissance.org/a-closer-look-botticellis-primavera/
In Florida, the year-round green environment can be an idealized world with palms swaying gently in the wind and citrus blossoms’ bouquet intoxicating your mind. This is one of the many draws to this state and rightly so. Today is cold, for Florida. I woke to a very crisp 36 degrees Fahrenheit, that is about 2 degrees Celsius. Brrrrr! When moving to Florida this is unexpected, but it happens and when it does decades old designed coats come out of the closet and get worn again.
But what happens to the plants in these unusual winter days. Some wither in the cold and they need some extra care. Just like the old coats, people swaddle those babies in old sheets, looking like ghosts still hanging around after Halloween. Many will still survive without blanketing but we feel why risk it. Our plants that grace our home landscapes, give us pleasure and become familiar unobtrusive friends. For me, I get a thrill when a new orchid blossom emerges from under a colorful croton in my back patio. Am I simply lucky that a store-bought orchid plant could be attached to a bush trunk to come back flowering year after year giving me that thrill? I followed a neighbor’s lead and did the same. Another neighbor had home grown pineapples. Cut off the top of your store bought one, put the cut part it in the earth and you’ll have a grove!
Florida is very green, but working with a horticulturist can give you that something extra to make your plants thrive. They also will guide you with what plants are hearty in heat and cold, what plants have medicinal advantages, like aloe, and what plants could be poison with adverse effects on your pets and children. Those of you with only short planting seasons, be envious of the green that surrounds us here in Florida or come down to get a piece of it yourself. I fell in love with it, and you may too.
