Tucson’s Floral Virtuoso: Remembering Ron MacBain
This botanical history post was featured on The Daily Gardener podcast:
April 25, 2017
On this day, dear admirers of floral artistry and garden enthusiasts, we bid farewell to a true maestro of the botanical world: Ron MacBain, owner of The Plantsman floral shop in Tucson.
Just a few days shy of his 90th birthday, MacBain left behind a legacy as vibrant and enduring as the arrangements he so lovingly crafted.
Imagine, if you will, the sun-drenched streets of Tucson, where for decades, one name was synonymous with floral excellence.
As one article so aptly put it:
Ron McBain did the flowers.
It's a refrain heard more and more frequently in Tucson.
Whether the event is an elegant party or a posh charity ball; whether the bouquet cost $25 and was sent to grandma on Mother's Day or cost $100...
For 25 years, The Plantsman was not merely a shop, but a institution, a place where nature's beauty was expertly curated and shared with the community.
But MacBain's artistry didn't end when he sold his beloved shop in 1999. Oh no, dear readers.
Like a perennial bulb, his creativity simply found new soil in which to flourish.
Turning his attention to Winterhaven, the home he shared with his longtime partner Gustavo Carrasco (who, alas, departed this earthly garden in 2011), MacBain transformed their abode into a horticultural haven.
Can you picture it?
A riot of colors, textures, and fragrances so captivating that it became a pilgrimage site for photographers, painters, and garden aficionados alike.
But life, like the seasons, brings change. When tending to his beloved garden became too challenging, did MacBain hang up his pruning shears and retire to a life of quiet contemplation?
Not our Ron!
With the adaptability of a climbing rose, he simply found a new trellis for his creativity: painting.
In his own words:
I [imagine] I'm in the flower shop... and arrange on canvas the way I would in a vase...
The joy [I get] fills me so much, I wouldn't want to do anything else.
What a beautiful testament to the enduring power of creativity and the joy of working with nature's palette, whether in three dimensions or two!
As we tend to our own gardens, arrange our own bouquets, or perhaps even put brush to canvas, let us remember Ron MacBain.
His life reminds us that true passion knows no bounds, that beauty can be cultivated in myriad ways, and that the joy of creating is a gift that keeps on giving, right until the very end.
May your garden, literal or metaphorical, be ever as vibrant and inspiring as Ron MacBain's life's work. And who knows?
Perhaps the next time you're arranging flowers or planting a new bed, you'll feel a touch of MacBain's spirit guiding your hand, encouraging you to reach for that extra splash of color or daring combination.
After all, in gardening as in life, a little audacity can yield the most beautiful results!
