How would you feel about entering the fantastical garden of a treasured, Bay Area rosarian? Once outside Barbara Worl's gate, I forgot everything! I was there to interview her, but didn't even have a pencil and paper. I did have a camera though, and managed to take this image of Barbara as she came out to greet my friend Mary and me. The neighbor's kitty, Firecracker, checked us out, and then we were allowed entrance into Barbara's magical world.

It's hard to believe that Barbara's lush, other-worldly garden is on a modest city plot, located near downtown Menlo Park, California. Well-pruned fruit trees– guavas, kumquats, peaches, persimmons, and tree-leaping roses form a canopy, hiding Barbara's home, and sheltering a horticultural paradise. Light enters the canopy lace, and spotlights garden details throughout the day. In the back garden, amaranth rules the kingdom.

Roses and dahlias thread their way through grasses, clumping asters, lilies, rudbeckia, Japanese anenome, abutilon, salvias, solanum, and endless other delights.

Mary and I couldn't stop the exclamations and Barbara was a cheerful fount of stories and horticultural gems.