Las Varas de San José
Life long learning, in its most simple form, can be achieved by watching, regardless of where you are. A week without it is incomplete. The past week was overflowing, courtesy of a flower that is exploding into bloom throughout Santa Fe right now - the hollyhock. A member of the Malvaceae family, the hollyhock or Alcea rosea, has quite a story to tell. According to an article in the Santa Fe Botanical Garden website written by Susan Bruneni, Alcea rosea or the hollyhock, came to New Mexico like many different growing things, via Spanish explorers. "When Juan de Oñate headed north along the Rio Grande with a party of settlers, livestock, and Old World plants, tiny hollyhock seeds they called Las Varas de San Jose (St. Joseph’s staff) were tucked in with their supplies. The Spanish believed these plants brought good luck from St. Joseph. And they proved they indeed brought good luck by their ability to flourish in the harsh northern New Mexico climate when other plants could not survive." And although the flowers seem to have their own site specific locations which include medians, and less than ideal soil, when the seeds have exactly what they need, they thrive. Below are four images of beautiful "double" hollyhocks.
The story of the hollyhock is far from exclusive to New Mexico. Bruneni (again in the Santa Fe Botanical Garden article), "Alcea, is a genus of about 60 species of flowering plants in the mallow family Malvaceae. They are native to Asia but are high adaptable to different climates and are now found throughout the United States and eastern Canada. They were first mentioned in England in "Grete Herbal" by John Gerard in 1597 as arriving in Britain in 1573, probably from China by way of Palestine." After reading this, I will never see the hollyhock, which seems so iconic to Santa Fe gardens, in the same way. Today's blog features a small sampling of the flowers. There are so many that another blog featuring them may be in the offing at a later date.
After all of the colors that seem to exist within the body of the genus, the white ones make their own statement, including a bee photo bomb.
Thanks to Barbara F. R., Tim, Pauli, Kay C., Catherine, Sara, Orlando, TTT, Louise, and Steve for commenting on last week's blog.
I hope your Summer Solstice week (on Thursday) is filled with all the good things that mark summer, including hollyhocks!
until next Monday,
DB
a passion for the image©
Comments
Happy summer to you and Fred.