Public Gardens

It's common practice here in Lucca to show your collection of home-propagated plants to passers-by. Gardeners group them along the roadsides, a foot away from rushing traffic, sometimes in very good terracotta pots, but more often in plastic ones—people don't seem to be at all worried that some admiring, acquisitive stroller might make off with one of them.

The public plants of choice are cacti and succulents. These are plants that endure adverse conditions in their natural habitats and so living by the side of the road, half-forgotten, they still thrive—you can take your summer vacation and scarcely give them a thought!

Above, "Fico d'India" pricks its Mickey Mouse ears alongside Agaves, Faucarias and Kalanchoes. There's a passion for plants residing here just beyond that ocher wall. Thank you! Keep it up!