Nature's Gardens in Alaska.

• Main Author: Muir, John
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1898
• Subjects: Environmentalist; naturalist; travel; conservation; national parks; John Muir; history; pamphlets; journal articles; speeches; writing; annotation; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Tundra; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/244; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/context/jmb/article/1243/viewcontent/218.pdf

Nature's Gardens in Alaska.:-: -- "'-"-' TM-IE'most extensive, least spoiled, and mos; .;1 . unspoilable, of the gardens of the conti ent,. says John Muir in the January Atlantic, a! the vast tundras of Alaska" Every surnmel they extend smooth, even, undulating, contin ous beds of flowers and leaves from about lal 62° to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. And t /winter, sheets of snow-fiowers make all thei country shine, one mass of white radiance. like| a star. Nor are these Arctic plant-people thef pitiful frost-pinched unfortunates they arel guessed to be by those who have never seen9 them. Though lowly in stature, keeping near| the frozen ground as if loving if, they areS bright and cheery, and speak Nature's love ass plainly as their big relatives., of .the south? Tenderly happed and tucked in beneath downy;; snow.to sleep through. the huge, white winter,s they make haste to bloom in the spring with-j out trying to grow tall) though some rise.high| enough to ripple and wave in the wind, and display masses of color,—yellow, purple, and blue, —so rich they look like beds of rainbows, and are visible miles and miles away. . . . Ands in September, the tundra glows in "creamy 'golden sunshine, and the colors of the ripe? foliage of the Heathworts, Willows, and Birch,! red, purple, and yellow, in pure bright tones,.: are enriched with those of berries which are||; scattered everywhere as if they had been show-** ered down from the clouds like hail; their*! colors, with those of the leaves and stems,-i3 .blending harmoniously with the neutral tintssf of the ground of lichens and mosses on whichjjl they seem to be painted. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/jmb/1243/thumbnail.jpg