You had me at “riotous cottage garden”! That sounds like a proper plant party. By the sounds of it - and if things like the Chelsea Flower Show and Gardeners’ World Live are anything to go by, which they could not be - more and more people are embracing the bit in the Venn diagram where nature and horticulture overlap. Fingers crossed it’s more than just a trend - I think it must be.
There was a huge tree in my neighborhood when I was a kid that had a waterfall of gorgeous branches hanging over the sidewalk. I saw two opposite views of it on the same day once… Shortly after some women walked by grumbling about the ‘overgrown mess that should be cut’ some little girls skipped down the same path, ran through the branches, danced with the leaves, laughed together and happily exclaimed how much they loved ‘their’ tree.
I love this, thanks so much for sharing, AJ. It's so heartening and encouraging to be reminded that many/most children are fascinated and enchanted by the wild wonders of the natural world. It's such a shame that somewhere along the road to adulthood, many then lose their love of nature and start to see it as an inconvenience, like the people in your story.
Yes, the endless passive-aggressive communications with our rear neighbour about our tree (he wants it gone), are a constant reminder that not everyone is on board with the whole wildlife-friendly approach to gardening...
Love this from beginning to end, Dan.
I’m so glad! Thank you, Sarah.
You had me at “riotous cottage garden”! That sounds like a proper plant party. By the sounds of it - and if things like the Chelsea Flower Show and Gardeners’ World Live are anything to go by, which they could not be - more and more people are embracing the bit in the Venn diagram where nature and horticulture overlap. Fingers crossed it’s more than just a trend - I think it must be.
There was a huge tree in my neighborhood when I was a kid that had a waterfall of gorgeous branches hanging over the sidewalk. I saw two opposite views of it on the same day once… Shortly after some women walked by grumbling about the ‘overgrown mess that should be cut’ some little girls skipped down the same path, ran through the branches, danced with the leaves, laughed together and happily exclaimed how much they loved ‘their’ tree.
I love this, thanks so much for sharing, AJ. It's so heartening and encouraging to be reminded that many/most children are fascinated and enchanted by the wild wonders of the natural world. It's such a shame that somewhere along the road to adulthood, many then lose their love of nature and start to see it as an inconvenience, like the people in your story.
Yes, the endless passive-aggressive communications with our rear neighbour about our tree (he wants it gone), are a constant reminder that not everyone is on board with the whole wildlife-friendly approach to gardening...