One Planet, One Garden
I’ve come late to social media. It’s a year since I established an Instagram and Facebook presence. Initially I was very wary of new friend requests, believing them all to be suspect. But gradually I began to realise that, with some judicious screening, I was attracting fellow gardeners from all over the world. And I’m learning so much!
It’s the USA and Canada, in particular, that attracts the most followers. A Californian lady listed all manner of garden birds that I hadn’t even heard of, and vice versa. A keen gardener in Seattle commented on my posts about the parakeets that frequented my feeders. Turns out, he has deer in his garden, and on the odd occasion, even a bear. I’m delighted if I get the odd hedgehog! His ‘yard’ is about 4 acres, with mature redwoods and conifers, rhododendrons and magnolias, flourishing in his acid soil.
And in February, just as we were emerging from a rain-soaked winter, Ottawa, Quebec and Toronto were knee deep in snow. Unable to venture out for days at a time, followers were deeply envious of our verdant landscape, getting a vicarious thrill from my posts about the advent of spring in our parks and gardens.
A chap in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, tells me that his wisteria and honeysuckle run rampant in his yard, although his Passiflora never seems to flower. He has Indian Slipper, wild garlic, sassafras and columbines growing wild amongst his native azaleas, a large oak and a PawPaw tree, which is native to Northeast America.
An elderly lady, who had just relocated to New Mexico to a retirement community, was excited to be creating a garden for the first time in her life.
A retired couple in Pennsylvania got in touch, because the husband thought our setup sounded similar to theirs. They were committee members of their local horticultural society and had won several awards in their local In Bloom competition. His wife is now disabled and cannot work in their garden, so he relished the opportunity to ‘chat’ to us, and compare notes, about our planting schemes, types of veg we grow, soil conditions and, most of all, the weather.
And who knew that scilla and chionodoxa bulbs could create such controversy! Having posted what I thought was a photo of scillas, I started a thread from opposing factions, as to whether they were one, or the other. Ironically, that same week on Gardeners’ World, Monty Don pronounced them to be one in the same, corroborated by Garden News. The debate continues!
Love, Caroline
Cover photo: Kenwood, Hampstead Heath
