24 Years Ago in our Garden

Scene Setting by Greg, Then an Extract From Trenna’s Gardening Diary

Introduction

This post is just a bit of whimsy

This post is just a bit of whimsy I have decided to do on the spur of the moment. Today (16th December 2023) is one week before the third anniversary of Trenna passing away. And of course Christmas is approaching and a few days after that will be my birthday.

It is a time of mixed emotions. Don’t get me wrong, at this time I’m handling it just fine, but I have just read something that has caused me to crank up the computer.

A Gardener’s Companion

An important book in our house is “A Gardener’s Companion” by Trisha Dixon. I must say, Trisha didn’t have to do a lot of writing. It is a book of lined pages, separated into months.

Within each month there are sections for “Plantings”, “Pruning”, “What’s in Flower”, “Weather”, and “Produce”. There is the occasional garden related quote at the bottom of some pages, but really it is a journal for writing what’s happening in the garden.

And Trenna embraced that.

Looking at the entries she has written I am guessing that she got it around Christmas 1996. About the same time we returned to our home in Kensington from Darwin.

24 Years Ago

What I wanted to share with you today is Trenna’s entry in the December “What’s in Flower” section. She wrote it exactly 24 years ago today, and when I read it a short time ago I found it evocative, and just felt a need to share it.

I can imagine Trenna sitting at the kitchen bench hand writing this. The bright light hurting her eyes as she peers out to the backyard for inspiration. I also, of course can remember most of these plants, where they were and what they looked like. Many had back stories of how Trenna and I acquired them.

For that reason I am pretty sure this post will appeal to me more than most people, but it’s my website, so here it is.

Transcript From “What’s In Flower”

Thursday 16/12/99.

It’s a sunny day with fairly strong winds – the aftermath of Cyclone John which last night hit the Pilbara region with winds in excess of 290kph. Some damage to housing and infrastructure but not to people.

Our first Shasta Daises are starting up. The potted Plumbago is in full bloom spreading long tendrils of blue blossom out to grab passers by who come and in and out of the French doors in the kitchen.

Our pale yellow Day Lilies both in the ground and in the concrete pot outside the kitchen window have a dozen blooms apiece Our potted Bougainvillea, bright pink and prolific has more bloom than leaf colour showing through. The indoor Spathiphyllums and one in the fern garden having both blossomed well. White Alyssum edging the pool upstand is ever reliable.

Both the pink and white Pelargoniums are still blooming although they were at their peak a month ago. Likewise with the Star Jasmine. We have one spray of Frangipanis thus far. But no sign of any Agapanthus bloom – we often have some success later than many other people. Another year without any bloom on the Illawarra Flame – she’s about 11 years old now, we still wait patiently.

Our Parsley is flowering like crazy – the only flowers I wish would go away, I like their leaves much more for cooking.

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