Our Enchanted Garden

Every day in every way, whatever the season, the garden never disappoints, always delights. A saunter through the garden reveals ongoing surprises, new discoveries, for ardent garden lovers. And I most certainly am one of those types; people for whom gardens represent beauty, vigour, anticipation and repose.

Sustained searches through the glassed front door every morning soothes the eyes and the mind. Revealing unsuspected miniature landscapes, suddenly springing to attention. Unmindful, passing looks out windows bring to the fore the glory that is the garden.

From spring to early summer the perennials take their turn in revealing to us the bounty of nature's voluptuous treasures, ours to admire and gloat over; residing within the very precincts of our personal gardens.

Eventually these treasures fade, become background to emerging displays which, in their turn, grant us pleasure and occasionally comic relief, permitting us to also laugh with joy over the unexpected.

The huge ligularia plant, admired for the shape, size and structure of its foliage, for example, is now thrusting out its absurd and unbeautiful flower heads. Somewhat like the bountiful and beautiful foliage of the many kinds of hostas that send up not absurd and quite lovely floral masts.

The echinacea are everywhere in vibrant bloom now; pale pink to bright pink, and white flowers as well, with their cone-shaped seed heads. The spurge is in bloom in the rock garden, with its small yellow flower heads. Liatris, mallow, astilbe, gypsophilia are all on show, in their sequential bloom cycles. Chrysanthemums, alpine asters are yet to show themselves, and purple loosestrife is on the cusp of ripening into purple-pink whips.

The annuals too have been hard at work, from the New Guinea impatiens to the petunias, the ipomea to the marigolds, the pinks and the dahlias, the snapdragons and the godetia and above all, the splendidly glorious begonias, lush and gorgeous, filling out the garden urns and pots, delighting us constantly with their fresh perkiness, their indefatigable insistence on constantly blooming.

The essence of delight.