We should have been in Crete this week. Enjoying the sunshine and spring flowers. Lingering over breakfast. Ambling through the countryside. Revisiting old haunts. Eating and drinking copiously. Instead we’re stuck here, still enjoying sunshine and spring flowers and all the above but it’s not the same. Here’s a glimpse of what we’re missing:
And of course this week it should have been the Chelsea Flower Show too. Also scuppered thanks to the dreaded virus. Although Monty Don and Joe Swift have, on BBC2, been doing their best by reminding us of show gardens from the past that’s not the same either. But what this juxtaposition of Crete and Chelsea did was to trigger memories for Rosie and me: of how we turned a whim into a winner and ended up exhibiting at the world famous Flower Show ourselves. For old time’s sake, and because it’s fun to dive back into the old albums, here’s a few of the steps along the way:
And if that’s not enough to look back on, here’s something else: we should have returned from Crete to host the first of almost a dozen group visits to the garden but like everything else this year they’ve gone by the board too. That doesn’t stop us beavering away because the garden still has to be maintained, to look its best, but with no visitors to enjoy it that’s not the same either. So please forgive the wallowing as I look back on some of last year’s guests:
I’m not sure if all this reminiscing is good for the soul but at least it’s prevented me from complaining about Boris and moaning about the lack of slots. Or, for that matter, setting another horticultural quiz. Though for those that wondered: this is an Echium Pininana and it’s 12 foot high, is a half hardy biennial, endemic to the Canary Islands, part of the borage family and cousin to our own viper’s bugloss. And dangerous…spikey, poisonous and can cause more symptoms than coronavirus. So no nostalgia there.
