Love comes quietly,
finally, drops
about me, on me,
in the old ways.
          What did I know
          thinking myself
          able to go
          alone all the way.

                            Robert Creeley

Hear the Poem

 

About the Poet

Robert Creely was born in Arlington, Massachusetts, on May 21, 1926. He attended Harvard University from 1943 to 1946, taking time out from 1944 to 1945 to work for the American Field Service in Burma (now, Myanmar) and India. In 1946, he published his first poem, in the Harvard magazine Wake.

“Love Comes Quietly” grapples with a central concern: What is love? That the poet feels the gravitational pull of another is not the issue. He can easily define his feelings for his wife Bobbie, the person to whom he dedicates the poem, as love.

About the Pollination Garden

The Pollination Garden is a celebration of our native flora and fauna, particularly the species local to the Palos Verdes Peninsula. In the style of French garden designer and nurseryman, Olivier Filippi, this garden showcases the colors, textures and forms of the coastal sage scrub in a naturalistic but curated style. The majority of the plant palette are native Californian species sourced from the Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy and the Theodore Payne Foundation, but there is a sprinkling of plants from the other Mediterranean-climates and annual flowers for seasonal interest. As the garden grows and matures, we will start to see the undulating effect of the design. Native plants are great choices to plant in the garden, since Southern California is home, they need much less tending and water than conventional garden plants.

About Native Plants

Native plants and animals are indigenous to a particular region of the world. For example, the honeybee (Apis mellifera) is not indigenous to California, rather they originate from Europe. Whereas the squash bee (Peponapis pruinosa) is indigenous to California and is specialized at pollinating squashes and relatives. Our native flora and pollinators have evolved together and rely on each other to complete their life cycles. Plants provide food as a host or nectar plant and habitat in the form of shelter, while pollinators ensure that plants bear fruit for animals and seeds for the next generation. Plant some native plants in your garden to help recreate habitat for our local fauna in an urbanizing world.

We want to thank the South Coast Chapter of the California Native Plant Society for their generous support which will go towards caring for the native plants in the Pollination Garden.
 

Want to learn more about California native plants and gardening in a Mediterranean climate? Check these resources out: