My Mom’s garden
As long as I remember, my mother had a beautiful garden. Owing to my father’s transferable job, we shifted a few houses. Both my parents shared a passion for gardening. So a garden materialized wherever we settled. My mother’s garden was the talk of the town. She would incorporate unusual elements using scraps and wastes to add interest for instance, old bottles to line the bed, or coconut shells. She would create a pebble pathway with stones she unearthed during weeding and ploughing. She even had a lawn on one occasion maintained with a knife, cutting the blades to size... no lawn mowers. People who visited would always linger on admiring the creativity and the blooms. It seldom mattered how big the garden was or small. It was always beautiful.
She would spend all her spare time in her garden. There were most varieties blooming…seasonals, annuals, greens and foliage, roses, lilies, gladioli, cacti and a host of other plants. Even before I joined an architectural firm and studied landscaping as part of the curriculum, I was familiar with many plant names. And I think my folks know more plant names then me as also more about plants! I am but a designer who designs layouts and puts together the plants according to their textures and colors weaving in hardscaping elements for aesthetics and function but I am not much of a gardener. I am a preacher not a practitioner! Though I love having plants, I have never been out in the dirt prodding, sowing or weeding like my parents.
Gardening is a family pastime. On most occasions, when we go visiting relations, no one ever leaves without a new variety of a Hibiscus or Ixora or an Anthurium. The list is endless. Any one procuring a new plant is sure to pass on the progeny to others. I like it, being part of a green family and I keep dreaming about having my own house one day with a lovely garden. Will I?
Coming back to my mother’s garden, my parents’ house is in town and doesn’t have lot of space for an elaborate garden but whatever space there is has been utilized and converted into a lovely splash of colors and textures. A look around her garden can teach a lot about the art of combining plants in an interesting pattern. I want to share it with all wannabe landscapers. (See also, the successive post)
As long as I remember, my mother had a beautiful garden. Owing to my father’s transferable job, we shifted a few houses. Both my parents shared a passion for gardening. So a garden materialized wherever we settled. My mother’s garden was the talk of the town. She would incorporate unusual elements using scraps and wastes to add interest for instance, old bottles to line the bed, or coconut shells. She would create a pebble pathway with stones she unearthed during weeding and ploughing. She even had a lawn on one occasion maintained with a knife, cutting the blades to size... no lawn mowers. People who visited would always linger on admiring the creativity and the blooms. It seldom mattered how big the garden was or small. It was always beautiful.
She would spend all her spare time in her garden. There were most varieties blooming…seasonals, annuals, greens and foliage, roses, lilies, gladioli, cacti and a host of other plants. Even before I joined an architectural firm and studied landscaping as part of the curriculum, I was familiar with many plant names. And I think my folks know more plant names then me as also more about plants! I am but a designer who designs layouts and puts together the plants according to their textures and colors weaving in hardscaping elements for aesthetics and function but I am not much of a gardener. I am a preacher not a practitioner! Though I love having plants, I have never been out in the dirt prodding, sowing or weeding like my parents.
Gardening is a family pastime. On most occasions, when we go visiting relations, no one ever leaves without a new variety of a Hibiscus or Ixora or an Anthurium. The list is endless. Any one procuring a new plant is sure to pass on the progeny to others. I like it, being part of a green family and I keep dreaming about having my own house one day with a lovely garden. Will I?
Coming back to my mother’s garden, my parents’ house is in town and doesn’t have lot of space for an elaborate garden but whatever space there is has been utilized and converted into a lovely splash of colors and textures. A look around her garden can teach a lot about the art of combining plants in an interesting pattern. I want to share it with all wannabe landscapers. (See also, the successive post)
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