Holly - beware!

Our first English garden had a holly hedge (Ilex aquifolium). I was so thrilled. How cool is this! Don't have holly in SA. We moved in January. so being winter, I decided to sit it out and wait for the spring. before doing anything with the garden. By the time spring had gone and we were into summer, I realised that this lovely holly hedge needed a tidy up. No problem, we had the appropriate trimmer and all the necessary kit.

Or so I thought. Did I have the right kind of gloves for the job? No way! Do they even make gloves thick enough? This plant is vicious! Definitely have to find a way to pick up the bits without loosing too much blood!

Now, I look at holly in a totally different way. Our current garden has holly bushes as well. One got removed pronto because it was right in the middle of where I didn't want it. Another got pruned back vigorously..... more blood. The third one is a hedge mixed with forsythia, so I have to suffer the pricking whenever the hedge is cut. I am better equipped to deal with the cut bits these days, however, to the unwary and the uninitiated, there is another hazard.

If you are weeding or tidying up under and around the holly bush or hedge, take extra care. Those brown and dried up holly leaves are just as deadly! How many times have I sat or knelt on the ground, only to levitate rather suddenly, generally to return to earth, only to be stuck again. I never learn!

On the bright side, holly attracts birds and the berries are rather lovely and red.

Happy gardening!

The Christmas plant

The other day I bought a potted poinsettia - the Christmas plant. I am always reminded when these lovely plants appear in the shops, of a task I had to do annually in our garden in Durban SA.

On top of a retaining wall we had a row of poinsettia plants. They looked terrific all summer but had to be pruned every year. They reached heights of 8-10ft in a season. I didn't have the benefit of a pair of loppers back then, only a pair of cutters and an old garden saw. Pretty hard work cutting throught those tough stems. The plant, euphorbia pulcherrima, oozes a white milky latex sap when stems are cut. This stuff is dreadful, sticky and impossible to wash off it is also a bit toxic.

So not my favourite garden task. However, every year these plants would grow to their spectacular best, only to cut them back again. Isn't nature wonderful?

For advice on how to look after poinsettias indoors

My first garden centre

At about this time of the year in 1994, we had settled in a bit more; kids off to school or college; starting to find our way around and feeling less like we had just got off the boat.

A colleague invited me to go and see a deemonstration of flower arranging at a nearby garden centre. I would not normally be that interested in flower arranging as I consider myself as being a total dork in that area. To my regret I may add because I wish I had the ability to arrange flowers, but the skill eludes me.

Being December, it was cold, however, we all gathered in an annex which was like a big tent. nI thought we were going to freesze, but no, the whole area was heated by massive plastic ducts which blew out hot air. It was marvellous.

A gentleman then arrived and proceeded to dazzle us with the most unbelievable creations. They were more like sculptures made out of folliage and flowers, some very exotic. He gave a running commetary as he worked. I remember one of this masterpieces was a giant peacock which stood over eight feet high. So clever! I was enthralled and thrilled to have been there.

Afterwards we wandered into the garden centre proper. Well, I was in for a surprise! It was like walking into a fantasy land. I had never seen so many Christmas decorations in my life! They were arranged by colour, each in its own space. The colours were amazing; rich reds, greens and blues; burgundy, silver and gold. All kinds of baubles, tinsel. stars, hanging things, bells and, and, and.... I was gobsmacked. I realised then that Christmas decorating in the UK was a big business and that I could get really carried away here.

That was my first garden centre. I didn't even get to see the garden section!

Why a blog

I was with a friend the other day who is also from SA. We got talking about gardens etc and she said that she really didn't know what to plant where and when in the UK.

I was amazed! She had just echoed the same sentiments I had when I wanted to get stuck into my first English garden. Things are very different here. From where we both come from, Kwa Zulu Natal, the climate couldn't be more different. Although the English summers can be quite hot, in Natal summers can be very hot and muggy. Things grow very well and a lot of time is spent cutting back vast amounts of seasonal growth.

I have had three gardens of my own in the UK. I would consider myself a keen part time gardener, with limited knowledge of botanical names and certainly no expert on most things in the garden. I'm the sort of gardener who sees a plant and says "Wow!, I like that!" and gets it; not worrying if it will like London clay or where I'm going to put it. I have learnt a lot by trial and error and feel maybe others could benefit from my amateurish endeavours in the garden.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my gardening experience. I get a heck if a kick at getting things to grow and produce flowers or fruit or vegetables. I have spent a lot of time pouring over gardening books and have a some favourites on the web as well. The internet is great for advice on "how to" most things.

My current garden is very shrubby, which is just as well, on account of my dog, who came after most of the shrubs were in. More about Casper the friendly spaniel later.

This is a light-hearted account of a gardening journey in a new country. where things are different and where I have often thought "where do I begin?" A journey with snippets of reference and insights into the land of my birth. My up bringing included exposure to horticultural excellence with a botanist mother and a father who was 40 years ahead of his time with organic vegetable growing. In this journey I have marvelled at nature, how clever it is and how lucky we are to have such amazing plants and animals on this earth of ours, inspite of all our efforts to destroy what we have.

On a lighter note, hop on, lets see where this takes us!