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Grieving for a garden

© Lynda Jardinet

When I first became interested in gardening, some five years ago, I could never have imagined the emotional rollercoaster ride ahead. It has become an all-embracing passion. Ask a non-gardener and they look at you as if you are mad. You see, they have no comprehension of the delight of the first daffodil in spring and the satisfaction of soaking deep in the scent of the first rose in summer. They have never watched in wonder when the first tree they ever planted sheds its leaves on the first lawn they ever sowed by hand. And so, I guess they would probably look at me with detached puzzlement when I say I am now a gardener in grief.

We have sold our home. We are moving in three days. My garden, legally, will no longer be mine. My cherry trees will flower for someone else in spring. When the carrots are ready for harvesting, they will go into someone else's mid-winter soup. When my tulips emerge from the frozen ground in spring, someone else will marvel at the black-purple velvet petals of Tulip 'Queen of the Night'. Someone else will eat the first crop of cranberries from the cuttings I have carefully nurtured into spindly shrubs. It's enough to make you cry, really.

But as they say, for every ending, there is a new beginning. (There's nothing like a hint of pop psychology to perk you up, now is there?) And when one garden is left behind, another is born. So although I am sad to say goodbye to my 182 square metres of potager, paths, pond, paving, pergola, sun-drenched deck, natives, vegetables, roses, perennials and trees, I must confess, I am also excited. Very excited.

I am already planning new gardens. Perhaps the next project will be an Italian terraced garden with grape vines, avenues of trees, an amphitheatre dug deep into the hillside..... it's enough to make you sigh! I could plant an English flower garden, a Japanese pond, a tropical paradise with bananas, palms, bromeliads and taro. Or a modern courtyard with galvanised planters, tiled walls and topiary.....

We start house-hunting in earnest this weekend. Grant will be looking for potential and possibilities indoors, as I survey the sections, desperately hoping for an established tree or two. Wish us luck! I shall keep you informed as the search progresses. Oh, and to Felicity - good luck as you learn about gardening! May you enjoy living here as much as we have.

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