Last Autumn we hosted a Chinese couple from Shanghai who stayed for four nights.
One morning after exhanging a few emails I came out of my man cave and went over and sat in the garden with Chang pu and we shared a cup of tea and we talked. He told me, in Chinese his name means 'flourishing plant or vine' and how he always wanted a garden. Tears whelled up in his eyes as he told me he lived in an apartment and had no access to a plot of land where he could actually grow something for himself. I asked him to come into the potting shed with me and help me strike some Salvias and some Biden for planting next spring. Chang pu was in his element and my feeling was this was one of his nicest mornings.
Tonight I received a request from 加菲猫 Garfirld and 菖蒲 Chang pu....they wish to come back here and get married in our garden!
I have always said I would never host a party but, here I am looking forward to this one.
Hosting brings unlikely people together and creates friendships that no other occupation on earth can do!
Cheers......Rob
I'm serious Gordon, I hated gardening, that was Ade's province, to keep things looking ok, but with the onset of her MS her wonderful abilities have become restricted to barking instructions at me.
When push came to shove, for a year or so I loathed mucking around with plants, you lavish them with care and set them out where you think they will reward you best, you water them day and night (as we have to do with our 40c plus heat here at the moment) fertilize them......they give you about 5 or six weeks of splendor and say....' Goodnight Jack, that's it for us!' What the F did I put all that effort in for??....their gone!
But By God, it grows on you Gordon, and every year I get better and better at it, and more and more proud of it. I look forward to the next garden turn-around.
I took this photo which I have posted elsewhere here about 5 weeks ago........
This is that same shot tonight........
Despite my best endeavours that lovely colour died, is now in the compost bin! But the soil has been fertilized, new stock planted and the area covered with pea straw to not only protect the seedlings from our blistering summer sun but to pump a bit more nitrogen back into the soil, (See, I am up with all these tricks of the trade now) and I feel satisfied I am keeping the cycle going. And when every guest walks around the corner and makes some nice comment, I feel good and it makes it all worthwhile.
Like Ade, I am hooked now Gordon!
Cheers......Rob
@Robin4 One of the (few) negatives about living in a city like London is the lack of space (we had a stint in the country and it didn't suit us). But our thin yard (probably 8' x 30') is something for us to tend to during the summer, as are our hanging baskets.
The weather is on the turn here now (getting much colder) but I'm still woken every morning by the birds (minutes before another, bigger 'bird', BA's A380 from Hong Kong flies over) and it's our little bit of nature.
And yes, that is a huge great (Tube) train in the background, but as I work for LU it's akin to taking my work home, sort of...
