The bulbs were put in before the rains came, all except for the tulips which are still chilling in the fridge. This year I have eerlicheer, mixed daffodils, freesias, dutch iris and grape muscari.
I heard sad news that my writing and gardening friend Beth has passed away, she was concerned about her plants but they are still thriving and all her friends from all over had been looking after them. I still have one manuka that dad didn't cut down, a fern, the busy lizzie/balsam, a monstera, and several geraniums, plus succulents and 'flaming katies' Beth had passed on to me. She loved her plants and wanted them all to go to good homes, and was very generous sometimes to a fault. I was forever fielding plant requests for her. I have several peace lilies now that flowered for the first time after I divided them that all came from Beths plants she had nurtured in her little log-box house. I remember Mummy Cat especially liked meeting Beth although she was not a crazy cat lady, she did have a special thing for plants. She was always young at heart and seemed to me she was one of those 'keenagers' the kind of lady who though my parents age, never quite grew up and retained her child-like sense of wonder. But then when do we ever grow up? I'm still going to school!
I will treasure her witness and friendship for the time I got to spend with her, and of course the plants. She was like a bird always flying here and there but depositing seeds everywhere she went.
May she rest in peace till we meet again in Heaven, where I'm sure she has her own conservatory surrounded by plants.
