The theme for this week’s Weekly Photo Challenge is Love. I pondered this for a while and how to represent ‘love’. I could have posted a photograph of my children or my cat or my parents but I felt this was too personal and too predictable.
I thought about people who demonstrate their love for someone with a tangible gesture such as the Taj Mahal. I remembered a trip to La Mortella in 2010 which is a garden created by a wife for her husband.
La Mortella was created by Susanna Walton as a refuge for her composer husband William Walton. She created over 50 years and what is particularly impressive is the sheer lushness of the garden considering it has been built on Ischia which is a volcanic island.
This extract from La Mortella’s website explains:
This enchanting garden has taken more than 50 years to create, from the artistic sense, the love and the determination of Lady Walton to offer the composer a refuge in which to work in serenity and seclusion. Whilst William was composing, Susana was creating a masterpiece of her own, made up of flowers and plants; tirelessly planting, giving form and structure to an inaccessible and unpromising terrain, propagating and irrigating, and from a belief in the force of dreams, little by little she has created a garden which today hosts thousands of rare and exotic plants. For Susana Walton, la Mortella is a life’s mission, a monument to the life and works of William, and a touching record of the great love that they lived together.
For more interpretations of Love in Photographs visit the Weekly Photo Challenge at the Daily Post
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Thanks for this, I hadn’t really heard of William Walton, but have looked him up and will try find some of his compositions online. A garden is a lovely gift for someone
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What a great choice! I loved that garden. And yes, it was a work of love.
For me gardening is a real labor of love, and I do it for the joy it gives me. By creating her garden, Susanna showed the depth of her love for her husband. What a perfect interpretation of the photo challenge! Well done! Pam x
Hi Pam
It is a very personal garden and although there are some obvious design features such as the rill taken from other garden styles, the rest is deeply personal and individualistic
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I loved the garden and it’s story. I really enjoyed the photos. Thank you for sharing the history behind the story.
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Love bound by art.