I have been involved for the last few weeks with writing a course for Suite University on famous women gardeners. It has been intriguing to follow their lives and how they developed as gardeners. All the women I studied were garden book writers and all wrote about their likes and dislikes in their gardens. Many times they had the same likes and dislikes, other times it varied but the one thing this study has told me, personally, is how my own personal favourite plants coincide with the one Australian gardener that I researched. How could that be? I do not remember my mother having any books in the bookshelf by Edna Walling. I own several second hand books by her but I purchased these only a few years ago. I thought it may be that the large gardens I played in when a young child were "Edna Walling" inspired. If you believe the modern day real estate agents, any home that is sold with a piece of land attached that is larger than a pocket handkerchief is a "Edna Walling Garden". To my knowledge Miss Walling hardly ever came to the island state of Tasmania although there are several verified gardens in Hobart that were designed through the post.
How much do subconscious memories of the gardens we have seen early in our life influence us when we are at last creating our own little patch of heaven? Is there a completely original garden design? Perhaps the Garden of Eden is the first and only absolutely original creation. Nature sometimes shows us the way by placing a seedling in a perfect position and with her pristine natural woods and forests that are so sadly vanishing at a rapid rate. So, I thought this month I would tell you what I like in the gardens I create and visit. These are a few things that coincide with Miss Walling's likes: I like to see moss growing on a beautiful tree trunk and I like to see a field of forget-me-nots, giving a soft blue horizon to delight my eyes. I like boulders with moss and lichen too I like white flowers, they always seem to have the most delicious scent of all the colours, think of the lilies and the white Rhododendrons. I did read somewhere that because of the lack of colour to attract the bees, the flowers make up for it by luring their friends with an irresistible perfume. Just take a walk in the cool of the night and you will be amazed how one bush or clump of flowers can perfume the whole garden.
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