March 2021

Matters of the heart rather than the garden have been the inspiration for my diary entry this month and, following on from the Victorian tradition of the language of flowers in which plants held hidden meanings, I’m sharing three of my own.

As lockdown eases I’ve chosen aptly named Crocus ‘Jeanne d’Arc’ planted last autumn in the wildflower meadow in gratitude for all NHS workers and especially for Rachel, a young nurse whose first job after graduating was on a busy Covid ward. Through March I’ve been painting her portrait as part of the portraits-for-heroes initiative started in 2020 by Tom Croft as a way to give something back to front line workers by offering to paint their portrait for free. Artists all around the country have since joined the scheme and I was delighted when my own offer was taken up by Rachel’s mother who has feared for the safety of her brave daughter ever since the epidemic began.

My second choice is pulmonaria, commonly known as lungwort and doubly fitting for this page as its medicinal properties have in the past been used in the treatment of respiratory ailments. I first saw it when visiting East Lambrook Manor, the garden that Margery Fish created in Somerset.  As a young, inexperienced gardener I was entranced by her informal cottage-garden style planting, relaxed attitude to self-seeding native plants and use of unusual, shade-loving spring flowers. Pulmonaria ‘Margery Fish’ named after her, is a compact perennial with small blue and pink flowers, silver-spotted leaves and ideal as ground cover in partial shade. Now growing here in my own garden it always reminds me both of that visit and the great plantswoman and writer who so influenced my own gardening style.

Lastly, to the white camellia which I believe to be Camellia japonica ‘Silver Anniversary’. It came with us from London to Suffolk and this spring it’s covered in flowers and more beautiful than it has ever been before. Despite being easy to grow, camellias can occasionally be subject to problems, the main one being flower or bud drop. This can be caused by not watering enough through the summer months and although they should be fed with an ericaceous fertiliser from early spring onwards, feeding any later than the end of July can also be the cause. Seeing it now flowering so happily, it reminds me both of my mother for whose anniversary it was given and the very dear friend who gave it to me sixteen years ago.

So, as lockdown eases this diary entry celebrates thankfulness for friends and families, the kindness of strangers, memories, connections and the healing power of nature.