Tending a vision
This was the moment when I first realised that the otherness of Japanese gardens has something to do with the way they are tended.
Occasionally further garden thoughts become short essays.
This was the moment when I first realised that the otherness of Japanese gardens has something to do with the way they are tended.
My grandmother’s joy was most apparent the moment she returned to the house. She proudly filled vases with flowers and prepared delicious meals from the fruit and vegetables she had grown. The garden was my grandmother’s domain, her sanctuary, and the source of her self confidence.
For the past seven years the magnolia has been our borrowed landscape, a generous gift from its previous owner to the whole neighbourhood. I try not to think about its absence. After a long winter every green shoot seems like a miracle, but a whole tree covered in hundreds, maybe thousands, of large-petalled flowers is the boldest statement of renewal.
What exactly was happening during the first lockdown? People had started gardening. They were also rushing into the parks. But why? Was it just boredom?
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