Virtual Garden Tour - The Bronx with Rosanne

Rosanne Tartaro from SunRose Aromatics has lived in the Bronx, across the street from the ocean, just about her entire life. I know this woman. She toils in her garden every day, sometimes several times a day and loves every minute of it. Besides what she is sharing with us today, other gardens are filled with herbs and vegetables from which she makes delectable gravy (aka tomato sauce) for the dishes her Italian grandmother taught her to cook.
This is another oasis in the city. Once again, amidst the hub-bub and noise, one can pass through the gate and get lost in the quiet, relaxing dream that once lived only inside Roe's mind. Now it is a reality.
Imagine if you will, rising at dawn to water and work with your beloved plants, and then return indoors to tinker with and blend essential oils and make product during the day, perhaps returning to the garden in the evening. Isn't that idyllic? Now I know that reality isn't quite that delicious (because my own life looks pretty idyllic too), but still...
So let's wander around a little bit.
Atlas balances a heavy load while watching over geraniums and calendula. I love the statuary in Roe's garden. It speaks to her spirituality as well as her heritage and ancestry.
A brilliantly colorful patch of Asiatic lilies bloom, seemingly for the joy of the Goddess Flora, who gazes lovingly at them from the edge of the pergola.
The pergola was finished in 2009, and a large table is in the center. All of it was built to Roe's vision. It is a place in which she spends a lot of time and loves to entertain. Who wouldn't? It's lovely! Still in the city, yet removed. I am really loving these gardens that carve a place out for themselves amid very NON-garden areas.
A little bit of tropical in a lush hibiscus....This year there will be berries on the elderberries that are planted along the fence. Next year she's going to have more berries than she knows what to do with!I bet the birds love to bathe in the bowl held aloft by this garden girl figure, and as people walk near the garden on the sidewalk, they probably catch a whiff of the brilliant blossoms within. Be sure to visit her website for scrumptious rare and precious essential oils - as well as the ones we use everyday.
We'll be off to Tennessee in a few days. If you are a subscriber of The Essential Herbal Magazine, please consider sharing your garden with us! In a few weeks I will be showing just how bad a garden can get because of the weather or neglect (I have a good excuse this year, not that it matters). I usually only show close-ups of blossoms, and crop out the mess, but I'm about ready to unveil the horror that is my garden. Don't be shy! We are ALL struggling with the hot/dry/cold/wet weather this year.