I can remember huge swathes of golden rod and tall Michaelmas daisies with small flowers from a house we lived in in the late 50s. I still don't like them.
The 60s saw us in a house with a badly neglected garden which had once been designed. I was a home-alone-in-school-hols child from 8+ and my parents were not thrilled when I spent a summer clearing crud to reveal paths and beds of roses and perennials that then needed maintenance. There was a huge almond tree at the back that was good for climbing and a rockery up by the house. I still don't like rockeries unless very well done and natural looking.
70s found me in Manchester as a student and then London and flat sharing so just window boxes of lobelias and night-scented stock plus pots of herbs.
80s saw us in our own garden, also neglected, so we chopped down the 30' high conifer hedge and dug out sick roses and a laburnum. That left space for a fruit cage at the bottom, herbs and veggies in front of that and loads of flowering shrubs and perennials plus bulbs.
90s was Belgium where many like to plant red and yellow tulips in rows like soldiers and then half hardy annuals in regimented rows and gaudy colours for the summer so my garden style was a curiosity - trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs to attract, feed and shelter all sorts of wildlife with a non-manicured lawn plus a veggie plot and fruit.
I've given up buying the latest trendy plant as I've learned it's better - cheaper and less failure - to go for what suits my soil, climate and skills.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
I suppose I don't like great big flowers. Dinner plate dahlias - especially the stripey ones , rhododendrons, sunflowers and big daffs just don't appeal.
I remember a lot of cottage gardens in the 70s, big borders packed with tall flowers and shrubs. I think the entire nation had roses, lol, and trees - almost every garden had trees!
My grandmother had Etoile d'Hollande growing through a hedge and underneath were little irises called, I think, stylosas (sp). And masses of daisies everywhere.
The other grandparents had standard roses all neatly labelled and underplanted, and lavender planted in such quantities it made me sick every time I visited. Parahebes lining the driveway.
Rhododendrons... ferns... a fast-growing native tree that seeded itself somewhere awkward and then you weren't allowed to cut it down or move it by law...
I know many of you hate it, but, to me as an urban child with no garden in the 50s and 60s , the smell of privet blossom meant endless school holidays playing in Paddington Rec. Eventually, at the end of August, Marks and Spencer would have back to school displays with simpering middle class Janet and John types sporting the latest in prison uniform. Then you knew it would soon be over.
Marigolds. We had a gravel path edged with bricks at an angle and a section of marigolds. I was born in '53 and they were there, year on year. In the 80's my OH and I took the hand lawnmower to be serviced. The man lived in a cottage with a cottage garden and I stood there with waves of memory washing over, by the marigolds next to the brick edging.
I remember wallflowers in our back garden during the 50's. And roses. Planted by my dad who didn't like gardening...just mowing the grass every week. Wallflowers don't particularly inspire me but I did give in a couple of years when I discover Erysimum Bowes Mauve, which I now love...and so do the bees.
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The 60s saw us in a house with a badly neglected garden which had once been designed. I was a home-alone-in-school-hols child from 8+ and my parents were not thrilled when I spent a summer clearing crud to reveal paths and beds of roses and perennials that then needed maintenance. There was a huge almond tree at the back that was good for climbing and a rockery up by the house. I still don't like rockeries unless very well done and natural looking.
70s found me in Manchester as a student and then London and flat sharing so just window boxes of lobelias and night-scented stock plus pots of herbs.
80s saw us in our own garden, also neglected, so we chopped down the 30' high conifer hedge and dug out sick roses and a laburnum. That left space for a fruit cage at the bottom, herbs and veggies in front of that and loads of flowering shrubs and perennials plus bulbs.
90s was Belgium where many like to plant red and yellow tulips in rows like soldiers and then half hardy annuals in regimented rows and gaudy colours for the summer so my garden style was a curiosity - trees, shrubs, perennials and bulbs to attract, feed and shelter all sorts of wildlife with a non-manicured lawn plus a veggie plot and fruit.
I've given up buying the latest trendy plant as I've learned it's better - cheaper and less failure - to go for what suits my soil, climate and skills.
The other grandparents had standard roses all neatly labelled and underplanted, and lavender planted in such quantities it made me sick every time I visited. Parahebes lining the driveway.
Rhododendrons... ferns... a fast-growing native tree that seeded itself somewhere awkward and then you weren't allowed to cut it down or move it by law...
I love all those plants.
Yeah, every time I smell privet flowers (very nice I might add) I always think of my grandma.
I play with plants and soil and sometimes it's successful
Wallflowers don't particularly inspire me but I did give in a couple of years when I discover Erysimum Bowes Mauve, which I now love...and so do the bees.
Luxembourg