Where everything’s coming up roses

A stroll through the Rose Garden in Exposition Park is everything you’ve ever known about summer distilled into a single afternoon. Cool grass and cooler shade. A breeze. Babies sleeping on cotton blankets. The ice cream man. The drowsy pulse of traffic -- or is it cicadas? Sun so hot it saps your will. Bordered by museums filled with a little bit of everything, the garden celebrates the infinite variations of a single theme: A rose is a rose, times 10,000.

Sit back and watch the wedding parties drift by on a summer Saturday. Tiny flower girls under the spell of the sparkly fairy tale bride. The maid of honor making the best of her puffy lime-green dress. The groom sweating in his tux, but happy. He’s happy. The music starts and the guests stand. The bride walks by, her high heels sinking a bit into the lawn. She throws a smile our way and each of us, from the gardener wrestling with a broken Rainbird to the woman doing yoga under the palms to the jittery high school kids on a day trip, becomes a member of the wedding.

-- Veronique de Turenne