Friday 9 November 2007

Memories are made of this..

I love plants and I get immense pleasure watching them grow from a tiny bud to a full blown shower of blossom.
My father was such a great influence on my formative years as we had a large wraparound garden which had once been an orchard and had 21 apple trees.. all except one were cooking.. so I was force fed stewed apple for many years and Belgian apple cake.... can't complain! I would follow my father around the garden absorbing his knowledge and enthusiasm as he planted and tended to the beautiful and varied parts of the garden.. we had a rose arbour that stretched around two sides which Dad made from rustic logs and grew heavy scented old english roses along.. it was heavenly with the apple blossom blowing like confetti ..
As I said once before.. it was a charmed childhood and my strongest memories are being in the garden pottering around and having a perpetual love affair with each new plant that entered the garden..



My favourites were the Lenten roses which grew in dark dusky clumps under the largest apple tree..
I would be in awe of my father's knowledge of the plants and his general garden expertise.. he knew all the Latin names of each plant with amazing names like Ceratostigma Willmottianum.. just tripping of his tongue.. I would think to myself that I would never have such knowledge and now 40 years on I find myself quoting the same Latin names with ease..but then isn't it easy to absorb information if you have a passion for something.. and isn't this true of everything.. children are like sponges.. feed them the riches of knowledge and they will have wealth for life!



This was my last garden planted from scratch... I loved it and it broke my heart to leave it behind.. life goes on in my new garden!

Please go see Louise@Homeiswheretheheartis... she has a fabulous garden blog.. just delightful!

8 comments:

Sophie Honeysuckle said...

Oh what a gorgeous garden-no wonder you didn't want to leave it behind! Thanks for the lovely comments about my blog, I'm glad you're enjoying it as much as I enjoy yours! Blogs are like magazines but better!! And your dream home sounds fab-one day perhaps...Have a lovely weekend!

Nonnie said...

It's lovely to have grown up with someone who is so passionate about gardening isn't it. With me it's my Mum. She also knows all the latin names and I now also find myself knowing a lot of them. I long to have my own garden so I can keep on the gardening tradition. I love the look of your old garden. Not surprised you had difficulty leaving it but I'm sure your new one is just as lovely.
On a different subject, just noticed you have the railway children listed as a favourite film! It is my absolute favourite and can watch it over and over. The original version of course. I refused to watch the newer version when it came out. I now have the original on DVD and it's a favourite Sunday afternoon film. Still always cry at the end when her Dad appears out of the steam on the station platform!

Anonymous said...

gorgeous garden... i love to garden but don't have the time, I have all my plants in pots at the moment for several reasons.. to stop the chickens eating them, to stop Florence digging them out and to stop Woody from peeing on them! Its a darn tricky situation!

Joanna said...

I love growing things and round lawns. I keep wanting around lawn, I remember Jeff Hamilton on gardeners world designing a garden around a round lawn. Its so sad to leave a garden.

Sandra Evertson said...

Out discovering new blogs, and yours is Lovely!
Sandra Evertson

bj said...

How beautiful! I've never been a gardener as I've never known a thing about plants..but, I do love seeing other peoples gardens.
bj

Louise said...

Hi Michele, I am so glad you have discovered my garden blog, it has gone a bit quiet of late as I have been adding entries to my home one! My love of gardening started when we moved from our first home with no garden to our present home with a large garden! I had to start liking it, as it takes up a lot of my spare time, it will never be finished and I will never stand back and be totally satisfied with how it looks, it is such high maintenance, but even though at times it is overwhelming I do love being outdoors in the fresh air close with nature. I now watch every garden programme that comes on the box and I swat up a lot from gardening books, many I have bought from charity shops for a fraction of the price. Your old garden looks like a designer's dream, you must have felt very sorry to leave it behind after putting in so much hard work, but your love of gardening will be handy when planting up and designing your present garden. Thanks so much for giving me a mention, I always feel so chuffed. As ever I look forward to your next interesting post. Louise x

Carol said...

What a gorgeous garden, I love the round lawn.
I am a very keen gardener who is happy to get her hands dirty, gloves do not feel right.
My Dad started my interest.
I find it so relaxing when I am in the garden, pottering!
XX