A ramble as we head into the dark winter months.

If you have read any of my posts up until now, you may have gathered I am more of a flower gardener than a vegetable gardener these days. However I have been a predominately vegetable gardener at times. I have collected roses at times, rock plants at times, herbs at times but I kill houseplants.

We use genre when describing different art forms. When discussing books we talk about fiction, non-fiction, biographical, historical etc.  In visual arts we use words like impressionism, abstract, surrealism, expressionism. Those who express those art forms are known as writers, authors, painters or sculptors.

I view gardening as an art form but we don’t use the word genre when referring to the many types of gardening and those who specialize. As with other art forms there is so much more to gardening than gardening.

We have xeriscaping, market gardening, wetland gardening, rock gardening forestry, etc.  We have physic gardens, herb gardens, perennial gardens, vegetable and water gardens. Although a specialist in gardening may be referred to as a horticulturist, within that definition there are orchidologists, orchardists, acanthochronologists, herbalists, arborists etc. Gardening is a wonderful blend of science and art but to present plants in an aesthetically pleasing setting I think is an art form.  If that is what we aim to do in our borrowed piece of this earth wherever it might be, it is a garden I think we need refer to and not a yard. Yards are for vehicles and barns.

I believe horticulture is generally an under ranked science and art form so gardeners everywhere should be proud of the art and science they indulge in. We feed the world with food and beauty. We, however, cannot be knowledgeable at every type or genre of gardening. There are just so many to dig into to. Some referred to me as an expert once and I definitely am not! It is not possible when you love anything to do with gardening. My point of this little ramble is to say, I am a dabbler in horticulture and a lover of gardens. These articles will reflect that. Life unfortunately is too short to travel down all the rabbit holes that involve gardens and their specialties but we can play with as many as we can.

Image from http://www.robertopiecollection.com

Seeing more people enjoying this art in Covid years has been wonderful and I really hope this love of getting our fingers in the dirt continues and to the point where we can feed ourselves in difficult times. The slogan used in World War two was “Dig for Victory” and in a way I feel that is almost how it is now. All public and some private spaces were given over in the UK to growing food. When I see empty shelves in supermarkets I realise how quickly food supplies can dry up.

For the moment I grow mostly flowers. I feel so lucky to have the luxury of being able to do that but if necessary my fertile garden could quickly be given over to carrots. Kudos to all the gardeners who practice the art and science of gardening. We create the peace and productivity that seems to be required right now, when so much is destroyed in other parts of the world.

Digging in my garden gives me such calm, peace and connection with the natural world and I know it does for many others too.

So while the garden is frozen solid, I shall begin to plan my next year’s garden, order the new seeds I wish to try and enjoy the respite from dirty fingernails. ‘Planning the garden’ will be my theme through the next few weeks, while we wait for the seeds, Amaryllis and other bulbs we planted for January forcing.