The Gardens at Santa Clara
The California coast is dotted with twenty-one missions that were built by the Catholic Spaniards, of the Franciscan order. Each mission was supposed to be a day’s walk away, from the next; they were used to spread the Catholic faith and to help establish the Spanish crown in the Americas. Santa Clara was the first mission to be named for a woman, Clare of Assisi; it was founded on January 12, 1777.
The current and fifth location, for this mission, was established in 1825. Fires, floods and earthquakes ravaged the previous Santa Clara missions; in 1851 the college began to hold classes on the grounds.
The lovely gardens, featured this month, are open year around, and can be visited for free – simply obtain a parking voucher at one of the guard shacks.
While not exclusively a rose garden, it is the perfumed roses with their explosively vivid and striking color, which wash over the visitor, carrying one into a feast of sensory delight which feeds both the body and soul! You will find this enchanting garden offers you the ideal setting whether you want to simply walk through the exquisitely manicured garden, sit and read a good book, or meditate in splendor.
Inpatients are the perfect ground cover, setting off the brilliant red rose bushes
Beauty in the moment
Such amazing color
There is something rather magnificent about softness of rose petals
Perfect
The Mission
So much joy squeezed in so tight
A bouquet
Cascading color
You will want to follow the path
I so wanted to bring these home
Overflowing beauty
Petal by petal
