'My Mum Collects Plants'

When my daughter Stacy was a litle girl (maybe about 8 years  old), she showed off her collections one day to a visitor: shells, gemstones, rocks, feathers, Barbie dolls. The visitor asked her whether her mummy (me) collected anything. Stace replied, 'My mum collects plants and I think she'd die without them'. I was astonished at the time that she had even thought about how I spent my time in the garden, much less come to such a conclusion. I was reminded of this incident today.

I have never been a plant collector in the way we often think of people who go out of their way, travelling to far-flung locations, or paying others to do so, to obtain rare and unusual specimens, but I do get excited about buying and planting new plants. Today, encouraged by a mild, sunny day, I visited a nursery in a nearby town, came home with a car loaded with plants and spent a happy couple of hours getting them in the ground.

The whole experience was a pleasure, from browsing around a very well set up nursery, to having a simple lunch in the garden cafe, to choosing what to buy, then coming home and deciding where to plant the new babies. At the present stage of its development, my garden is full, with no room for more trees or shrubs. However, replacement of the edging around some beds has extended their perimeters and given me some planting-around-the-edges opportunities.

The new babies are delphiniums, ericas, pansies, sedums and kangaroo paws. The delphiniums, which are worth their the effort for their gorgeous colour, will stay in pots on the deck because snails love them and this is a very snaily garden. The other plants have been placed around the edges of existing beds and will give the beds a lift when they grow a bit. The ericas and kangaroo paws, as well as looking good and being very hardy, will provide more food for nectar-feeding birds, which already frequent the garden regularly.

I don't know that I would die without new plants, but obtaining, planting and nurturing them is certainly one of life's great pleasures.