Begin at the beginning, and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
You know those ideas that come to you at the end of the gardening season, about September or October? Those hair brained ideas, wild dreams, improbable plans and high hopes that see gardeners through the short, cold, miserable days of winter. This is what I was going 10-12 months ago.
But, let's begin at the beginning:
It all started innocently. Humbly. A chance encounter with a Chamaerops humilis at the local garden center.
I was clearing an area of my long neglected garden to make space for a pond. In the garden center I was arming myself with new secateurs, loppers, a pruning saw. I had no clear designs in mind beyond the pond, but starting something is always the best way of getting ideas, I've found, so I wandered out into the plants to see if anything interested me. (The garden had been neglected in part because traditional flower borders were no longer interesting to me.)
That's when I saw the palm. Half price.
I must have gone back to look at it four times before finally tucking it into the boot of my car one Saturday afternoon. A palm tree. Could I grow a palm tree? In England? I wasn't entirely sure. What was I going to do with a palm tree if it did grow? I wasn't entirely sure.
But looking at it made me almost irrationally happy.
So, that one Saturday afternoon, a year ago now almost to the day, was the beginning. The start of a chain reaction which saw section after section of the garden be remade with a little bit of whimsy, a dash of fantasy, a nod to the theatrical, and tons of heavy lifting, deep digging, and just plain hard work.
Clearing out the old (and overgrown, and weed infested, and simply the lackluster) was the first step. Very nearly complete now. Imagining what things can become is a continual process as each new thing creates possibilities that didn't exist before. Sharing the progress gives me a chance to reflect and document things that I otherwise wouldn't have done.
The past year has seen me add a number of other palms (they do grow here!!) as well as banana plants, gingers, and other plants with a ‘tropical’ feel. It has been quite a steep learning curve for me as all of these plants were completely new to me. The combination of learning new things and the indescribable feeling and excitement I have any time I think about my garden now. There is just something magical about huge vibrant leaves, rampant vines, feathery fronds and the other ingredients that make up a tropical feel.
So I am restarting this blog to chronicle my journey, my discoveries, and what I've learned thus far, currently, and into the future.
I have (roughly) fours types of posts in mind, which seems to lend itself to a monthly cycle:
It all started innocently. Humbly. A chance encounter with a Chamaerops humilis at the local garden center.
I was clearing an area of my long neglected garden to make space for a pond. In the garden center I was arming myself with new secateurs, loppers, a pruning saw. I had no clear designs in mind beyond the pond, but starting something is always the best way of getting ideas, I've found, so I wandered out into the plants to see if anything interested me. (The garden had been neglected in part because traditional flower borders were no longer interesting to me.)
That's when I saw the palm. Half price.
I must have gone back to look at it four times before finally tucking it into the boot of my car one Saturday afternoon. A palm tree. Could I grow a palm tree? In England? I wasn't entirely sure. What was I going to do with a palm tree if it did grow? I wasn't entirely sure.
But looking at it made me almost irrationally happy.
So, that one Saturday afternoon, a year ago now almost to the day, was the beginning. The start of a chain reaction which saw section after section of the garden be remade with a little bit of whimsy, a dash of fantasy, a nod to the theatrical, and tons of heavy lifting, deep digging, and just plain hard work.
Clearing out the old (and overgrown, and weed infested, and simply the lackluster) was the first step. Very nearly complete now. Imagining what things can become is a continual process as each new thing creates possibilities that didn't exist before. Sharing the progress gives me a chance to reflect and document things that I otherwise wouldn't have done.
The past year has seen me add a number of other palms (they do grow here!!) as well as banana plants, gingers, and other plants with a ‘tropical’ feel. It has been quite a steep learning curve for me as all of these plants were completely new to me. The combination of learning new things and the indescribable feeling and excitement I have any time I think about my garden now. There is just something magical about huge vibrant leaves, rampant vines, feathery fronds and the other ingredients that make up a tropical feel.
So I am restarting this blog to chronicle my journey, my discoveries, and what I've learned thus far, currently, and into the future.
I have (roughly) fours types of posts in mind, which seems to lend itself to a monthly cycle:
- Things to do this month: rather self explanatory
- Garden status: what's growing, what's not, what's new, or interesting
- General musings on gardening (and hardy tropical gardening in particular)
- Plant profiles: a place to compile and keep what I've learned about particular plants
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