The Silly Back Garden.

When I am depressed I am simultaneously the most arrogant and most self-hating person I know.  I know I am the only person in the world who really cares or who is right about everything while at the same time I know I know nothing and that I don't really care about anyone.  None of you are okay and I'm certainly not okay as the Transactional Analysts might put it.

Some people say their race or nation or religion is the best in the world and needs to be promoted while at the same time believing their religion or nation or race is so weak it needs to be protected from annihilation by infidels, foreigners or aliens.

My Back Garden doesn't seem to suffer from any of those afflictions.  It seems to welcome everyone who wants to thrive in it regardless of where they come from, regardless of what they look like, and regardless of who they have interbred with.  It doesn't appear remotely interested in my beliefs or anyone else's.

What a silly garden.

Rosmarinus officinalis (Rosemary) and Foeniculum vulgare 'Purpureum' (Bronze Fennel) from the Mediterranean Basin; red Papaver rhoeas (Corn Poppy) which used to bloom in the No Man's Land fought over by France, Germany and Britain a hundred years ago; Pelargonium (most people call these Geraniums) from Southern Africa; Filipendula rubra from the prairies of the USA; Fuchsia magellanica from South America; Leucanthemum vulgare (Oxeye Daisy) from across Europe and temperate Asia; Ligustrum ovalifolium (Privet Hedge) from Korea and Japan.

Madness.

Yellow flowers of Hypericum - this genus grows everywhere in the world except the poles, the deserts and the deepest tropics - bit of a Gypsy one might say.

The species Hypericum perforatum (St John's Wort) is one of the oldest known antidepressants.  How could such a joyful flower be anything else?

The grooved leaves in the foreground belong Tricyrtis formosana from Taiwan.

A pure English Rose (Rosa) that was growing here when I came to this garden.  Except that this is almost certainly a hybrid descendant from a mix of Persian and Chinese roses - the root stock upon which it grows might be British though.

More orientals - this Lily is Lilium regale from China.  Its stunning scent pervades the evening garden.

Beware of China, some people say.

Not happy with just one Lily this is Lilium 'Eyeliner' - not such a strong scent but a very domineering bloom.

Back to our old colony South Africa and Osteospermum (Cape Daisy).

Some people don't want to see Africans crossing the Channel to bloom on our island shores.

Oenothera speciosa (Mexican Evening Primrose) doesn't even recognise the Rio Grande borderline - being native to both Mexico and the southern states of the USA.

The quintessential English or British cottage Garden favourite - the tall Delphinium is another dis-respecter of national boundaries coming from all over the Northern hemisphere and the mountains of Africa.

The same is true of Dianthus, the two flowering genera in the foreground: Dianthus 'Rebekah' and Dianthus deltoides.

English lavender must be English of course - well actually it seems to originate from the mountains of Spain.  This form is from a beautiful English Garden designed by an American: Lavandula angustifolia 'Hidcote'.

Don't I grow any British natives?  Of course.  The yellow flower here is Hieracium pilosella - Hawkweed.  Of course, most British people who want a tidy unspoiled British garden see it as a weed that contaminates their immaculate lawns or pollutes their driveways.

To me I think I goes rather well with the bright red of the Begonia from the world's tropical areas.









And I guess that's me and my back garden.  When we are okay then everyone is okay and if I keep thinking that way then depression and all the attendant hate that goes with it is kept at bay where it belongs.  Instead both myself and the flowers prosper while the love these plants engender inspires me to grow more for next year:

And where do all these plants from all over the world belong?  They belong in my back garden and it would be wonderful if you thought some of them belonged in your garden too.  But that's up to you.