Plants that inspire "Time Travel"

The beachscape of my childhood

My visit to New Zealand took me back to the botanical landscape of my childhood and this prompted me to contemplate how certain plants can immediately evoke a sense of well being through their connection in my memory to happy days gone by. No need for a time machine, one whiff, one glance, one taste and I am transported to a different time and place.

I don't think this an aspect of garden design that is often thought of by professional designers because it is something that is so personal. It is certainly something I think that we recreate in our own gardens - probably often without conscious thought.

I certainly vividly recall one day when I was studying design in the UK how one of the other students mentioned their love of of the scent of lilacs because of the memories of summers past that this plant gave her. The lecturer was somewhat scathing of the value of this plant because he felt it's "form" was not desirable. I think he somewhat missed the point. Surely contentment derived from a memory of a plant is of equal value to its look.

For me there is a whole litany of plants that immediately make me feel content many are from summers spent at the beach;

My Nana had a beach house (on the Kapiti Coast in the North Island of New Zealand illustrated) located right on the beachfront. The smell of pine immediately transports me to those delicious strolls beneath the pines back to her house from the beach after a swim - salty water dripping from me, the sun on my back, and my bare feet warm in the sand.

Yellow Lupins in the Sand dunes

Also on summer holidays we used to spend many happy hours in the sand dunes making houses and shops amongst the yellow lupins that grow wild in that area. The lupin bushes provided us places to hide and make cubby houses and the flowers were a multi-purpose device, especially useful when shredded, to be used as money or alternatively an imaginary food source (corn).

Certain plants were more tempting to the taste buds. When visiting my Nana, we used to make a drink known to us as a "special" - a mixture of lemonade, vanilla ice-cream and mint. We would collect the mint from the garden and then make our delicious concoction and suck the lemonade and icecream from the mint as we consumed our drink. A delicious summer treat.

Somewhere along the way we also discovered that red salvia had the most delicious nectar. It grew next to the sandpit and as we played we would pluck the flowers and suck the nectar from it. Much to my delight my son and I found a bush of this Salvia on the route to his school - so when it is in flower we indulge in the same ritual and I feel delighted that I can share this with him.

I could list many other plants that bring back so many happy memories of childhood but am curious to know what plants evoke memories for others. They are almost "time travel" plants so specific to a place and time are they. If you feel like sharing your "time travel" plants please leave a comment.

A New Year

Pohutukawa - the New Zealand Christmas Tree
Metrosideros excelsa

Happy New Year to all. Forgive the lack of posts but of course in the lower half of the world our Christmas and Summer holidays collide and I have been visiting friends and family in New Zealand. We returned last night to our own beds - all the happier for the fact we had a wonderful time with friends and family and were blessed with sparkling bright days in the sun and sea.

In the next week I shall write formally again but for the moment I post a picture of the beautiful New Zealand Christmas tree which flowers prolifically in the North Island of New Zealand at this time of year.

Acquisitions from Lambley

Echinops ritro 'Veitch's Blue'

How likely was it that I would leave Lambley without a little clutch of plants in hand? Very unlikely is of course the answer. At least these days I am a little more restrained. I had thought about what I would like prior to arriving so that I could resist the siren song of other plants who wish to tempt me with their promise of beautiful bloom, foliage or scent.

So I thought I'd share with you my acquisitions and their companions that they will meet in my tiny front garden.

My son chose Kniphofia "Ascot Lemon" which by a small miracle fitted in with my plans - if you've ever tried to dissuade a 7 year old from his line of thinking you will know what a relief this is. He has no interest in my plans for the garden and on the way to school was gasping at the sheer beauty of a garish gladioli the other day - not one of my favourite garden plants, I confess. I hurried him past.

But back to my acquisitions; I managed to get my hands on a single plant of Echinops ritro 'Veitch's blue' (above) which as quickly as it appears in the catalogue is gone. You can see why, I hope it thrives in my garden.

My other choices were:

To go with my existing plants which include:

The tall and feathery - clockwise from L to R Urginea maritima (Sea squill), Stipa gigantea, Perovskia 'Filigrin'
and Verbascum olympicum

The shrubby and the strappy - clockwise from L to R Hemerocallis Stella D'oro, Santolina chamaecyparissus 'Nana',
Agapanthus 'Snow Storm' and Euphorbia griffithii

And beneath those my ground hugging friends:

Groundcovers - clockwise from L to R convolvulus sabatius, the silky soft artemisia
pedemontana and natives Wahlenbergia communis and Brachyscome multifida

At this stage all my plants are immature so I have not included photos of my own plot, so now it is a waiting game .... I shall report on developments.