A golden tree called "spring"

If we poor Seattleites don't even have a season called spring (see my previous post - but today, the sun actually peeked through the thick clouds...), then the Mexicans are so much more lucky; they both have the season and also Primavera, a golden tree named after it. 

I found this glorious Primavera reaching over the magnificent stone wall of a garden that I almost saw a couple of weeks ago - the Jardín Etnobotánico in Oaxaca in southern Mexico. As I never got inside the walls, I can only assume that it is Tabebuia chrysantha, a Primavera native to the area. Several species of Tabebuias grow in Central and South Americas and their hard weather- and insect resistant wood is better known as "ipê", a hardwood commonly used for building decks and outdoor furniture around the world. I'll never be able to look at an ipê-deck again without thinking of these golden flowers...

A young Jacaranda tree radiating purple on Monte Albán close to Oaxaca... if you look closely, you can see the city on the left side below the pyramids. 

Because of its magnificent flowers, Tabebuias are hugely popular as ornamental trees, but they have also several other uses from medicinal to agricultural, and are also an important source or nectar for hummingbirds and bees - always a recommendation for any plant to me. Many of its relatives have similar, showy flowers. One example is Jacaranda; while we visited, I spotted a beautiful young tree covered in bright, lavender-blue flowers at the altitude of 2000 meters at Monte Albán close to Oaxaca (see above). Unfortunately, the climate of Seattle is far too cold for Tabebuias and Jacarandas to thrive, but some other of their trumpet-flowered relatives like Catalpas can cope with these northern latitudes and could be used for creating a similar, slightly tropical touch with their clusters of pearly white flowers and huge, heartshaped leaves.

An exception to the rule of not posting pictures of my family... here with my daughters under a flowering Jacaranda tree in the Royal Botanic Gardens in Melbourne, Australia... what a bliss!

Almost a visit to Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca

So close, and still so far...

Oh, if there ever was a situation when I wanted to throw myself to the ground and howl like a toddler who is denied a lolly, then this was it.

Fences of organ pipe cacti (on the left) frame plantings of opuntias that act as house plants for cochineal insects. They produce highly-prized, crimson-colored dye of carmin that was exported by the Spanish and used for fine paintings and as a dye for carpets and silk.

I'd been wanting to see Jardín Etnobotánico in Oaxaca for a long time, and it was one of the main reasons we chose to visit this beautiful, UNESCO World Heritage recognition worthy little town in South Mexico despite its slightly inconvenient distance from our present hometown. And yet, I arrived behind the garden gates during the announced time for English speaking tours, highly excited about at last getting to see this magnificent garden - sometimes called the best ethnobotanical garden in the world - only to be met by large signs telling that it would be closed indefinitely due to striking state employees. The gates stayed closed during our whole stay, and the strikers seemed to have a good time under their shady canopy, watching TV and listening to rowdy music. They showed absolutely no sympathy to my anguish, and happily continued exercising their democratic rights to my - I'm a little ashamed to say - utter irritation.

The only glimpse I got of the garden was a bird's eye view from the second floor of the adjoining museum; it was brief, but still long enough to convince me that the reputation of this magnificent garden is well-deserved.

Like a street party; employees of the Oaxacan state exercising their democratic rights by the impressive entrance to the garden...

The Jardín Etnobotánico de Oaxaca tells the story of interaction between plants and people of the Oaxacan state that is famous for its ceramics, food and textiles. Plants have been an important part of its culture since the ancient civilizations of the Zapotec and other indigenous people who inhabited the area.

 Cycads and other palms that provide both food and fibres for textiles.

Cacao and vanilla are only two of the countless plants used for food production in Oaxaca... and that I missed seeing in this fantastic, architectural garden.

Nothing happens without a reason, some say.... so I just might have to go back to Oaxaca.

More information about visiting this garden: http://jardinoaxaca.org.mx/.

An unexpected side of Mexico City...

Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City - a miles long, tree-lined avenue where sculptures form a calming contrast to the roaring traffic.

Mexico City was in many was just what can be expected of one of world's largest metropolitan areas - vast, congested, crowded, noisy and filthy, full of decrepit buildings with dirty, rag-covered windows, and people begging and sleeping in gutters even in the wealthiest of area trying to carve out their daily living amongst millions of others in need. At the same time, it was all the opposites of the aforementioned: colorful, luxurious, tree-lined avenues lined with glorious houses, art and grand architectural monuments, and with smiling, effortlessly friendly people always ready to explain and help you further when needed.

A sculpture with a wonderfully soft organic form, with no plate about its name or creator...

What I found one of the most intriguing features of the city, was the amazing amount (do you say amount?) of sculpture on display everywhere in the city; by roadsides, in parks, in the middle of roundabouts - it felt like where ever my eyes wandered, there was a sculpture waiting to be discovered in the shadows of trees, forming proud focal point in the white sun, or drenched in the middle of water squirting fountains. Partly a deliberate and proud effort to display Mexican art and history, I still sensed that somewhere behind that official agenda, there must run an innate, deep love for the sculpted, chiseled, casted and modeled. Maybe, it is a living heritage of the earlier, ancient civilizations who carved their magnificent temples  filled with sculpted artwork on this same soil...

"Las Alas de la Ciudad" ("The Wings of the City") and"Equilibrista 90 monumental" by Jorge Marín, a young Mexican sculptor, whose classically influenced works are displayed on Paseo de la Reforma.

Burning blue - Frida Kahlo's La Casa Azul in Coyoacan

I wonder if there can be a single art lover who hasn't been touched by Frida Kahlo's (1907-1954) fiercely colorful and deeply personal paintings. Raising from a life of severe physical suffering and long periods of immobility - Frida went through both polio as a child and a severe traffic accident when she was 18 that left her handicapped and in permanent pain for the rest of her life - her art became the language in which she formulated and expressed her thoughts, ideas and beliefs. La Casa Azul, the Blue House, was Frida's home where she was born, lived and painted - many years together with her famous artist husband Diego Rivera -and finally died.

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It is not known if Frida actually gardened at La Casa Azul - given her fragile health, she couldn't have physically done much. But with its Pre-Columbian sculptures and Mexican pottery, her garden is a seamless extension of her home. It is a place where she spent much of her time, entertaining guests with Diego and even teaching pupils. Together, the house and gardens form a homage to her boundless love for and admiration of the Mexican culture, history, nature and people; all themes that are central in her life and art.  

Wildly popular already in her own time, countless articles and even filmatizations have made Frida into an icon of Mexican art, almost like a madonna of art and suffering. Floods of reverent visitors make their pilgrimage to her vibrant home while visiting Mexico City, and my visit there last week wouldn't have been complete without sharing this experience. What took me by surprise was the intimacy of the place despite its huge popularity; even now, almost 50 years after Frida's death, her atelier and gardens still radiated a touching sense of intense emotion and creativity. Wandering through the rooms and gardens, I felt like she only just had left. Maybe, she never really did. Viva la vida, Frida.   

Viva la vida, painted by Frida Kahlo shortly before her death in 1954, hangs still in La Casa Azul. 

A bowl with a lid made out of a gourd, with a pomegranate knob, on a beautifully embroidered table cloth.

One of the smaller rooms, like a corridor between a bed room and the kitchen. A so called 'Judas figure', a skeleton reminding of Judas who betrayed Jesus, hangs in the corner; several of them were around the house and gardens. 

Pre-Columbian and other artesanal masks filled many of the walls.

Frida's kitchen, an bold and beautiful symphony to honor Mexican pottery and other handicrafts. Color therapy at its best, and my new favorite - a wilder version of Monet's kitchen in Giverny.

A touching and intimate moment of the tour - Frida's atelier with her paints and even her wheel chair left as they were when she last worked here.

One of Frida's characteristic dresses - she loved to dress in costumes from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, wanting to show her solidarity to the native people.

 Frida's night time bed, with a butterfly collection that she got as a present from her close friend architect Isamu Noguchi.

Frida's daytime bed - because of her pains, she spent a lot of time in bed - with her death mask. From here, she could see directly into her garden, with her parrots and pet monkey.

Frida's sofa that she got as three year old.

Frida's atelier and day time bed room in the background, facing a fountain and the garden.

A detail from the fountain - a leaping frog looking at a conch shell... 

Detail from the inner garden, with Mexican terracotta pottery and Pre-Columbian sculpture.

A four-tiered pyramid built as a display for Frida's and Diego's collection of Mexican artefacs and Aztec idols.

More information about La Casa Azul: Museo Frida Kahlo.