Thank You

A certain organisation with which I am familiar designated last week as gratitude week.  Okay, as ever I am a little behind the times in my back garden, but I am eternally grateful for the life I have in this here back garden.  Truly, I have so much to be thankful for.

Thank you unknown Osteospermum and unknown Geranium.  Both were planted by someone who lived here before me.  I have allowed some self-seeding.  I have taken cuttings.  And I have enjoyed them each summer since I came here.

The African Daisies are the flowers that everyone who visits or passes by finds attractive.

Less Osteospermum anonymous and more Osteospermum unanimous if you like.

Thank you known geranium: Geranium nodosum.

You bloom reliably for me in dry shade and are seeding yourself around a bit nicely too.

Thank you Knotted Cranesbill.

Thank you Delphinium.hybridum 'Pacific Giant'.

Delphinium was the first plant I ever grew from seed back in 2004 with free seeds from the WRVS stall in the fair that was marking the 700th Anniversary of Kirkcaldy's Links Market.

Along with Clematis, Aquilegia and Helleborus it also inspired me to have my first look at plant families.

So, thank you Ranunculaceae.

Thank you Kew Garden, London, for the free wildflower seeds which have germinated very strangely with a very distinct line between one section and another.

As far as I know I sowed the seed randomly across this bed so this man-made looking dividing line between one third and the rest is not of my intentional making.

Thank you mystery.

Thank you Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium caerulium).  You seem to have just taken to each garden of which I have been a part - without judgement.

Over the centuries this herb has been used as a treatment for fevers, syphilis, dysentery and toothache.  For me, it sends me into a stream of consciousness connection for the ladder is that seen by technicolor dream coat Joseph's dad Jacob in Genesis as he dreamed while using a stone pillow that found its way to Scone for the Kings Of Scots to be crowned upon until Edward of England pinched it 700 years before some Scottish Nationalists claimed it back one Christmas and now it lies in Edinburgh Castle on top of a volcanic rock that I can see from my front window - or does it?

Thank you wildflower bit at the back of the garden: Red Campion (Silene dioica); Foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) and if I look properly I can also see the yellow flowers of Herb Bennet or Wood Avens (Geum urbanum) - all plants that flourish throughout this here Kingdom in which I was raised and in which I now choose to reside.

Thank you Fife.

Thank you Foreigners too.

Two hardy Fuchsias and three bedding Begonias.

They will give me colour through most of the summer and not ask for much in return - no dead-heading even, just a little water.

Thank you for giving me so much more than you ever take away.

Thank you swings and thank you compost bins and thank you compost and thank you cage for rotting leaves and thank you wheel barrow given to me by an auntie and uncle ten years ago.

You are the non-beating hearts of this garden.

And thank you more British Natives I have managed to raise from seed: Oxeye Daisy (Leucanthemum vulgaris).

Thank you Yellow Rattle.

This is the third time I have tried to grow Rhinanthus minor and this time it has germinated, it has grown and it has flowered among the grass wherein I envisaged a wildflower meadow developing over the years.  This parasite on the grass will help.

This has been the most exciting thing in my garden this year - for me.

Thank you amazement.

Thank you edibles: potatoes and broad beans in containers.

Potato: Solanum Tuberosum 'Aran Pilot' which I am told my grandfather used to grow before I was born - using the spade I still use.

Broad Bean: Vicia faba 'The Sutton' which is a dwarf-form I first grew on my student plot at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh six years ago.

The plot was dedicated to my late wife and it was she who first showed me how to grow potatoes in bags.

Thank you Sue.

Thank you more edibles.

Herbs from my former work colleagues and clients.  Strawberries from a friend of my father.  Tumbling cherry tomatoes from a chain store.

Glazing courtesy of a school that was replacing its windows a good few years ago - the same school that was responsible for my primary education.

Thank you school?  Hmm, not sure about that one.

Thank you ornamentals.

Although there are day lilies (Hemerocallis) and bergamot (Monarda) and Argentinia vervain (Verbena bonariensis) at the rear this is mainly for hungy plants that nonetheless will provide a feast for the eyes:
Dahlia 'Bishop of Llandaff'; 'Braveheart Except It Isn't'; 'Garden Wonder'; 'Go Go White'; 'Purple Haze'; 'Sunshine'; and 'Twyning's After Eight'.

Alcea rosa ' Good Golly Miss Molly' - the Hollyhocks that will be supported by the stakes.

This is probably not a recommended combination for one small bed.

Thank you for those who don't always follow recommendations.

Thank you ornamentals in pots.

Not a planned combination.  It is just happening and looks almost tasteful to my eye.

Thank you for happy accidents.

But most of all - thank you life in a back garden - for all your cultivated wildness.


Thank You.