Crossing over the PONTE SAN NICCOLÒ today, I ran right into branches of this pretty rose-of-sharon shrub. I have one just like it in my garden in Denver. In Denver, this shrub doesn’t bloom until August. It obviously happens much sooner in Italy! Most things do!
Florence’s many bridges are fun to read about: http://www.aboutflorence.com/firenze/ponti-di-firenze/ponte-san-niccolo-firenze.html
The flowers are very large and magnificent! I love my iphone camera, but it didn’t live up to its potential with this shoot.
how do you do it?
After living in Seattle for a few years, I’ve yet to see any other micro-climate produce the the amazing magnolia trees that grow there. But, Florence is no slouch when it comes to these monumental trees.
Last weekend I was in the lovely garden behind the Palazzo Guicciardini, and this beautiful speciman was putting on a pretty show. My pictures, unfortunately, do not capture the majesty or the beauty of the big white blossoms, but I hope you get the picture. Look at the top section in this picture below and you will see some of the white blooms.
Another closer view:
Here’s a view I found on the internet to better show the white blooms.
And yes, the blooms are gorgeous, but even the foliage of this tree is lovely.
I make a weekly walk through a lovely residential neighborhood in an outer area of Florence. You see all Florentines and Italians here. I’ve never ever seen a tourist in this area, which is kind of amazing if you understand the waves of tourists that swarm this amazing city.
My weekly walk takes me by a very interesting front garden of one of the many villinos in the neighborhood. The first time I saw this large cactus (I don’t actually know what the plant is, if I’m wrong, please leave a comment!) it looked like a caged animal to me, one that was trying to work its way out of the surrounding metal enclosure.
Yesterday I walked through the area again and wanted to take more inclusive pictures to show how this front garden is organized. Here they are:
As you can see, the cactus has a fantastic magnolia tree behind it.
Here is how the entrance to the home is organized and decorated. Very lovely to my eyes,
And then, here’s that massive plant! Love it!
I wonder what it would be like to come home to this Florentine entryway every day. I think it almost magical, because it is so gorgeous!
I want to live here, in Florence:
Or, maybe I’ll live here, which is right next door:
Yes, I think I’ll choose the 2nd one, because it has a fantastic glass house and room to garden right next to it:
If I can live in Florence, in one of these 2 neighboring houses, I think I could just spend my days reading and writing and gardening and listening to the birds, inhaling the roses and jasmine. It looks to me like paradise.
And, lest I forget where I found this place, which could happen because every day brings new wonders and it is hard to keep track of all this splendid stuff:
A rose’s rarest essence lives in the thorn.
– Rumi –
conservato agli Uffizi, non faccia accenno al fatto che Botticelli vi ha rappresentato centinaia di esemplari tra fiori, arbusti, erbe, alberi e vegetali in generale. Una così cospicua presenza di piante risponde a diverse esigenze: la prima è ovviamente circoscrivere il periodo dell’anno oggetto dell’opera, perché le specie rappresentate da Botticelli, com’è lecito immaginare, fioriscono, crescono e germogliano tutte in primavera. La seconda è suggerire rimandi simbolici: in tal modo si spiega, per esempio, la presenza degli alberi d’arancio che sì presentano le loro zagare, i fiori bianchi tipici degli agrumi, ma sono anche carichi di frutti, quando è noto che l’arancio dà i suoi frutti verso la fine dell’autunno. L’arancio è infatti un emblema mediceo: facile comprendere perché se si conosce la denominazione latina citrus medica, che oggi designa scientificamente il cedro ma che anticamente, almeno secondo il botanico ottocentesco Giorgio Gallesio, era utilizzata per indicare anche l’arancio. Inoltre, l’agrume è anche simbolo di matrimonio, perché secondo la mitologia antica la dea Giunone avrebbe donato al marito Giove piante d’arancio come dote nuziale. Se peraltro si prende per buona la pur discussa datazione che vorrebbe la Primavera dipinta nel 1482, la realizzazione dell’opera cadrebbe nell’anno del matrimonio tra Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici e Semiramide Appiani.
https://www.finestresullarte.info/659n_specie-vegetali-della-primavera-di-sandro-botticelli.php
get back, lauretta! 
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