“If I had a flower for every time I thought of you…I could walk through my garden forever.”
~ Alfred Tennyson
I cut some hydrangea flowers this week, and placed them in a glass by my kitchen sink. They’re Angela’s hydrangeas, or at least that’s how I think of them. They have grown from cuttings taken from her garden, and she helped me to press the woody cut stems into the pots where they now flourish. Angela passed away last year, but the plants she gifted me anchor her memory and energy at my home.
So much of my garden has come from friends. It’s something I learned from my Nana. She had a friendship garden and now I do too.
I have hippeastrums from Shannon, who lives at the farm across the creek from us.
When the water is low we can walk across the creek at the shallowest part to share a cuppa at each other’s house. Hi, Shannon! 🙂
My herb garden has rosemary from a cutting I stole from a bush beside the butcher shop at Forest Hill back when I was a student. Cuttings of that rosemary have travelled everywhere with me, ever since.There’s also lemon-scented thyme from Sue, one of my students who knows I love cooking, and Thai basil from Tili the waitress at a favourite restaurant in Brisbane.
I have a red rose from Agnes, an old lady at the CWA who couldn’t believe that I didn’t know roses would grow from cuttings.
They do!
There are bromeliads – from Nana, from Vynette’s mum Leanna, and from my friend Lynda’s grandparents. They make wonderful homes for small frogs and I love their unusual flowers.
And I have a gorgeous spreading soft-leaved groundcover with white flowers from my friend Marlene. I have no idea what it is called, but I am reminded of her every time I see it.
I’ll tell her how much I love it when I meet her for coffee this morning!
I can thoroughly recommend having a friendship garden. It’s one of the most meaningful blessings in my life. <3
Such pretty flowers, I like flowers and on Friday Jessica gave me some just because she could
My new neighbors and new friends and I have been swapping pieces of plants the last year. I love sharing and receiving parts of the gardens they put so much love into. I’ve also planted many trees and shrubs in memory of loved ones in my garden.
One thing I had in common with my Dad was our love of plants. There wasn’t much we had to keep us connected, so over the years I would bring him back cuttings from different places I visited or plants from friends. In my very first years of teaching an old curmudgeon of a principal gave me a mock orange plant that it is still growing on the farm today. It has survived two very big cyclones and several annihilating cut backs. It’s still there, over 30 years later. It also serves as a positive memory for me of what I shared with my father, who has now passed. I can’t agree more that plants serve as a powerful reminder of our relationships with friends and family!
K
Reblogged this on dreamweaver333.
Absolutely gorgeous. Can’t imagine anything better in my garden then flowers, herbs and shrubs reminding me of people I love. 🌿❤️