February 1, 2015 - Southwest Desert GardeningSouthwest Desert Gardening

Rose Calendars for 2015

Rose calendars for 2015 are available from both the American Rose Society and the Albuquerque Rose Society. The two have different images, and both are beautiful.

The images in the 2015 Albuquerque Rose Calendar were the winners at the 2014 Spring Rose Show. I am pleased that five of the twelve images were my winners in that show, including “Best of Show.”

Best of Show – Gemini – from the class “Rose Art”

Best of Theme – The Artistic Rose – Distant Drums

Best of Black and White Challenge – Leonidas

Best of Section – The Rose – Gemini

Best in Class – Rose Sprays – Dream Weaver

For my friends in the Albuquerque area, I recently found out that the calendars are available in a variety of places:

The Garden Shop, Albuquerque Garden Center

Bookworks

Figments Tea Shoppe

Jackalope Pottery

Jericho Nursery

Osuna Nursery

Given that one month of 2015 has already passed, I don’t know if a discount is being given on the calendars, but it never hurts to ask!

The wall calendar is priced at $10.00, and a smaller perpetual calendar is priced at $5.00. All proceeds go to the Albuquerque Rose Society.

The Observer, The Observed with “Spontaneous Poem from a Treetop Crow” by Jim Stallings

The joys of gardening include much more than just plants, no matter how much we love our plants for the beauty they provide. The joys also include the variety of wildlife attracted, and that is nowhere more true than here in the desert Southwest. I love the variety of birds, bees, butterflies, and so forth that are attracted to my yard.

In early January I was out photographing a cloud bank rolling over the Sandia Mountains, with a storm predicted to follow it. Suddenly, a “murder” of raucous crows appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, and they perched briefly in a neighbor’s tree, very close to the house, meaning no decent images. This one crow, however, stayed behind, briefly, and seemed to pose for this one image.

The Observer, the Observed

This was at a time when my family was dealing with some bad news. In response to that, and seeing this image of the crow, Jim wrote this poem (a gift of encouragement to my family), and I asked if I could post it here.

Spontaneous Poem from a Treetop Crow

In the lofty life of a wise old crow
Swaying in the topmost backyard branches
Like a magical clock counting down mortality’s coil,
May it not be in some secret way
We the awed observers
Have all along been honored by a wiser watcher?

– Jim Stallings

To read more of Jim’s work, visit Jim Stallings: Books, at Amazon.com.

Thank you for letting my readers enjoy your poem here, Jim.