“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
