Why gardens?

Well, as a child walking home from school with my bag of hopeful books tucked under my arm, it was the gardens I watched, all the way home. I wasn't for one second thinking abut how to conjugate French verbs, I was watching the flowers glow and nod in the breeze, wondering what they were and how they got to be there. My mother had very little interest in gardens - she'd been banned as a child for fear of knocking over the dahlias. My father was gone, so there was no-one to ask. Since I have, supposedly, grown up - I have had three gardens in three different houses that were my very own to play with. This most recent one, which I am preparing to leave, began like this



which has now become this



I have learned an enormous amount about time and seasons from this garden, about leaf and flower, texture, size and light, so hope to take those lessons forward to our new garden ...