Not just any old maidenhair

Gardens have the capacity to turn us gardeners into unrestrained sentimentalists. Take the maidenhair above. It is not just a few pots of maidenhair. To me, it’s the Lois Memorial Garden. My mother-in-law died 30 years ago. I’ve watered that very same maidenhair salvaged from under her kitchen window under my own kitchen window ever since.

Same goes for the garlic patch. It’s my Margaret Memorial Garden, planted with descendants of the very same garlic my friend used to bring me down from her country garden. The jacaranda has a pedigree equally known by heart…and the ivy…and the orchids.

Fortunately this rather mawkish tendency is tempered by a degree of pragmatism. When Aunt Mary’s fern dies, for example, there’s no mourning. Straight into the green bin with it. Similarly, when the real estate agent suggests re-landscaping would add a bit of oomph (and consequently $$$), too bad about the honeysuckle grown from old Bill’s cutting….out it goes in favour of a neat box hedge.

However pragmatism has its limits. Despite the trend these days to de-clutter the house, I don’t know many gardeners who think that time has come for the garden. There’s just too many stories embedded there.

March 2018