Ok, it may be a little lame to reference Carmen Sandiego, a thirty year old computer game, as a way into Gertrude Stein, Umberto Eco, Rene Magritte and Alfred Korzybski. I was going to wax philosophical, but I don’t really need to do much more than imagine a conversation among these four, composed entirely of their most famous pronouncements:

*U.E. The meaning of the rose?

*G.S. A rose is a rose is a rose.

*A.K. The word is not the thing.

*R.M. This is not a pipe!

No picture could ever really do a rose, or perhaps any flower, full justice; but in truth, a picture of a rose has little to do with the actual presence of a rose. The image has no fragrance, no petals soft to the touch, no slight movement in the breeze. Worst of all, any representation of the rose has become a terrible cliche. From candy box to facebook meme. (I suppose that for some garden designers the very flower is a cliche.)

The rose bush in the above picture has been flowering for several months, but I was suddenly taken with one particular blossom which I wanted somehow to share with you.

Oh, and here’s another from my garden. Joseph’s Coat