Blossoms Are Fleeting, Love Is Eternal
I’ve written before about the glorious display of crabapple blossoms at the Chicago Botanic Garden every spring. But getting to the garden at the right time to see the display is rather challenging. It is at its height for just a few days, a period that can be cut short or eliminated altogether by a late cold snap or hard rain. The result is that many years we miss it entirely.
Because I was at the CBG on Saturday morning for my class, I happened to know that the crabapples were at their peak this past weekend. So I proposed to Judy that we go to CBG on Sunday. This despite my frantic efforts to keep up with gardening tasks, and the fact that Judy had taken the red eye from California the night before (she also travels a lot for work, but to much better locations).
We arrived in the late afternoon Sunday, after the weather had cooled and the crowds had thinned. Out came Judy’s camera and she started taking pictures: click, click, click … then just as we approached the crabapples, the clicking stopped. Judy looked at her camera with dismay: the battery was dead.
Of course I had wanted photos for my blog. But I was an adult about it, and sulked no longer than was absolutely necessary. We resolved to go on and enjoy our walk without the distraction of taking pictures. And we did just that, luxuriating in the beauty that was all around us.
Monday morning I headed out-of-town. Judy did not have to travel this week. That evening I was on-line and noticed that she was downloading photos. A lot of photos.
It turned out that she had run out of her office in downtown Chicago at 5 o’clock. She then drove the 24 miles to CBG through the usual rush hour madness. There she took the pictures she was unable to take the day before. This is something I really would never have asked her to do.
Now, is that true love, or what?
There are two downsides to this, though. The first is that I have to come up with something equivalent that I can do for her. That will be tough. The second is that I could no longer use a really great title I had thought of for the post about crabapples in bloom. Ready? Here it is: “With Malus Towards None”. Get it?
Has anyone gone above and beyond the call of duty to indulge your mania for blogging or gardening lately?
gardeninacity 
Beautiful photos! Some friends from Evanston took me there once, and your photographs brought back the sweet memories of walking around the gardens with them. 🙂
If you come here you’ve got to see it, that and the Lurie Garden.
Aw, so sweet!! My husband is not really an outdoors type of person, but he goes to various garden events with me, which I always appreciate. The crabapples are beautiful. A crabapple is on my list for one of the trees I want in my next garden! I always remember my grandmother’s crabapple (ok, really I remember her awesome crabapple jelly, which I ate loads of whenever we visited).
And I do always appreciate a good punny title – yours was especially fine. 🙂
Yes, my mother also made crabapple jelly, which was extremely delicious.
Lovely pictures and story!
South Bridge to Evening Island, Judy got the light just right.
Thanks (on her behalf), she keeps saying if she had only gotten there 20 minutes earlier, the light would have been perfect.
Now that is a lovely story, Thanks to Judy for the great photos!
I either have to stay on her good side or learn photography.
That IS true love! How nice of her. I can relate – my husband is by far the better photographer, so I am always pestering him to help whenever something is blooming and the clock is ticking. Too bad about the title, though! Maybe you can use it for a future post.
I was just thinking that if there isn’t much fruit on my ‘Donald Wyman’, I could write a post called ‘Absence of Malus’.
True love, indeed! Wonderful pictures! Great garden!
You should come to Chicago and see it.
Thank you both for sharing these wonderful photos. I’ve never had the privilege of visiting so especially enjoyed your tour.
Glad you enjoyed.
Wow that really is so sweet of Judy, yes i got what you mean by the title no more! If i were Judy i might even take a day off from work and just walk in that location again, seems like a day or two is not enough for an awesome landscape. And yes, because of blogging i not only have gone beyond the call of duty, i even cut office work to chase the sunsets in my 5th floor window, or gone absent to take photos i need for the next posts. hahaha
Yes, I find that my job keeps interfering with my blog.
I’d say your wife should get at least a night out for taking all those great photos! I like the foxglove plants in the first shot as well as the flowering crab apples. (Malus, for those who didn’t get your joke.) The comfrey under the trees is a good idea, and is something I probably wouldn’t have thought of.
Those foxglove are magnificent, I usually grow the yellow perennial kind.
What a great wife! I see diamonds in her future! 😉 You got the best of both worlds – photos for your blog, and a walk just relaxing and enjoying the beauty. That last photo with the tulips and other blooms is just gorgeous.
She is not really fond of expensive jewelry beyond silver earrings. But I’ve got to come up with something good.
Judy’s photographs are simply gorgeous! She has such a wonderful eye for landscapes. And these shots are just beyond the beyond beautiful. Also, she is beyond the beyond wonderful to take the time and brave the traffic for you. But, given the extraordinary beauty of the place, I can imagine she did it for herself, as a photographer, as well. And, yes, you really must do something wonderful for her. Perhaps Champagne (the real stuff), gourmet chocolate, and a promise to do the dishes for a month springs to mind (at least to MY mind).
As for the title–oy vey! I love it. You’ll find another use for it, I’m sure. The one you’ve used here is far more appropriate. You are lucky to have each other.
She says she did it for herself, I guess she was frustrated as well when her camera stopped working.
Wow, that last shot is totally awesome, the colours are gorgeous! That is one devoted friend, lucky you 🙂
That last picture is in the Sensory Garden. And yes, I am lucky.
Judy’s pictures are some of the best I have seen of this garden and you picked a perfect time to shoot them…I dare say I have to get to this garden someday in May.
I definitely recommend it!
How wonderful!
Thank you!
That is indeed true love; it’s actually more than love and dedication. Trying to describe these in words actually minimizes their values. Lovely shots; I want all those foxgloves. My hubby is always going beyond as he is not into gardening, doesn’t care about it but constantly taking me here and there, making these for me, hauling loads for me 🙂
He is a good husband since he is doing it entirely to make you happy.
We are all grateful to Judy for her photographic commitment. What wonderful images!! Thanks to you both (but especially Judy :-)) for sharing the CBG.
You’re welcome, Judy also says you’re welcome.
How very sweet of her! Tell her we appreciate all of her photos very much. CBG is a very beautiful place.
It is, you should try seeing it some time. Just a short hop up I-57!