Seeing Beauty in a New Light: Rose Edition
Photos & text by Jonah Holland, PR & Marketing Coordinator, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden
Recently, I’ve been struck by how beautiful the Garden is even in winter. I’m sure it happens each year, that as the light dims, and the days get colder, I notice the lovely things I come across more deliberately and appreciate them more, because they seem to be fewer. For now, I’m reveling in the patchy sunlight — short though it may be. And I’m finding incredible beauty in our Rose Garden — both in blooms that are spent — and ones that haven’t yet been kissed by the frost.
I used to think that no one would want to see a photo of an imperfect bloom on our blog. But now I see that it’s not imperfection, but nature shining a new light on the way we look at things. The frost-kissed rose is not the fresh new bud just opening for the first time, but it has an ethereal quality none-the-less. And I love it because of its imperfection and maturity.
It reminds me of my own mortality, as I seize each day and embrace it for what it is — rather than what I might wish for it to be.