By mid February, my love of winter is waning. I’ve had enough of wind and rain and mud; of being swathed in layers of thermals and woollens. I long, instead, for floral dresses and the warmth of the sun.
It’s been a hard winter emotionally too. Week after week, I hear of ill-health or tragedy encompassing those I care about. I am ready for something more positive. Though I cannot in any way change the cycle of news in my own milieu nor the world, at least I can rely on Nature to wave her floral flags that semaphore hope is on the horizon.
Mimics
The first flowers to arrive in my garden were the paperwhites and snow drops; their pale blooms mimicking the frost so recently passed. Then, as the sun’s strength increases, the flowers take some colour from its hue and daffodils, crocus, primroses and forsythia take their places.
When I did my daily perambulation of my yard today, I could not believe how much more was in flower. Last week, there was almost nothing, and today a great array.
A tiny primrose sheltering under the step. Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Let there be light
As every housewife knows, the clear sparkling light of early spring is a mixed blessing. Whilst the garden basks in its newfound beauty, the home is illuminated in all its less than perfect state. Cobwebs and dust concealed by winter dark and low lighting, suddenly come into focus. If the garden were not such a lure, I am sure that I would get on with more cleaning.
Instead, I drink my morning coffee in the kitchen and admire the mini rainbows cast upon the table as the light is filtered through the stained glass. I look outside and see the leaves of the great Austrian pine silvered with sunlight. I inhale the scent of paperwhites I have brought inside. Such perfume is wasted on the open air, I reason.
Much more fragrant than furniture polish Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Revivals
And it is not just me who is revived by the abundance of life unfurling all around me, the birds too are becoming noisier. The skies are filled with crows, their ragged wings rowing through the limpid air. Mr and Mrs Magpie come each day to haunt my garden and feast on the abundance of insects just now hatching in their millions. Out front, my beech hedge, with dead curled leaves, still hosts dozens of sparrow who choir to each other relentlessly. I know they are in there – but they are impossible to see.
Perfect camouflage – even in winter Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Fickle February
February is the month of lovers, and like lovers, it can be fickle. One day, you bask in its admiring glow, the wind a warm caress upon your face; the next, it has withdrawn all its affection, leaving you cold and disheartened.
Though in future weeks, winter may yet claw back its jealous hold, its days are numbered. The season is moving as insistently as an incoming tide, ever forward. Each day a little lighter; each day a little warmer.
And each joyful bloom reminds us this is so. Spring hopes – eternal.
Forgive me if I am preaching to the choir here, because I know that many of my readers are expert gardeners and far more competent than me. So I shall be writing mainly for those who, as I do, wish to be better gardeners and I hope I may even have something for the more accomplished.
Gardening is expensive. Perhaps not as expensive as the Victorian horticulturalists who spent vast fortunes on plant hunting expeditions and heating enormous greenhouses containing rare and delicate species. (The greenhouse at Chatsworth House was so huge that you could drive through it in a horse and carriage). Nor do our more interesting varieties of daffodil cost hundreds of pounds. Yes, even the cultivated, humble daffodil was once a rare collector’s piece.
But a visit to a garden centre usually results in returning with one’s purse considerably lighter. We go in, determined to only buy something for that space on the edge of the border, and come out laden with flowers, herbs, shrubs and even trees.
Halls of temptation Image: Zoe Deal on Unsplash
Garden centres are to gardeners as catnip is to cats. It is too much to ask that we don’t succumb to their charms? The solution, I would argue, is simply not to go there. After all, there are many other ways to source plants.
The garden centre alternative
One reason to limit one’s addiction to garden centres is, strangely, an environmental one. Almost all garden centre plants are contained in plastic when you probably have more than enough plastic plant containers at home.
Further, their plants will have been doused in pesticides and other chemical nasties. This is true even for those plants sold as ideal for pollinators, since ironically, they contain toxins detrimental to bees. (If you want to discover more on this topic, I highly recommend Dr Goulson’s The Garden Jungle.) Those of us trying to garden organically are often unwittingly introducing chemicals into our gardens via the soil of garden centre plants. The safest option, therefore, is to grow from seed.
Seeds
If you want to be extra virtuous, you can buy seeds that are organic very easily on-line. The Internet is also the best place to find more unusual species and since seeds are light, postage is seldom a problem.
But before purchasing anything, I’d recommend pulling out all the seeds that you already have. My normal modus operandi would be to go to the garden centre and pick out all the beautiful packets that catch my eye. There is no way that I would have time to plant them all. This year, to combat such craziness, I have checked my seeds and organised them by date of planting.
Seeds – sorted! Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
If there is space for more, I can note it on my wish list.
One thing I have done is take seeds from the seed heads of successful plants to sow again this year. There are many beautiful flowers that are really easy to recover seeds from including: poppies, love-in-the-mist (Nigella) and honesty. Once the plant has flowered and the seed head/seed formed and dried, simply shake them into an envelope and label.
If you have excess seeds, of course, swap and share with friends. Commercial packets often contain many more seeds that one has space to sow. And those you have taken from garden are likely to thrive in ones close by, since soil conditions and temperature are similar.
Pinch an inch
Perhaps my favourite way of getting new flowers from old is via cuttings. Ever since I was first successful in increasing my number of very bog standard geraniums, I have been hooked.
The way to take cuttings is the same for most plants. Find a healthy stem that has no flowers, snip it about six inches down just under a node (where the leaf emerges from the stem). Strip any leaves that are in the bottom inch or two and pot in well draining soil. If you have rooting hormone powder, dip the bottom end in that first before planting up. Keep the soil moist until roots form and repot.
Pot plant cuttings Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Last Sunday, I was at my niece’s for brunch and admiring her many and varied pot plants. Would she mind if I took a few wee cuttings to try to bring on at home? Of course not.
Since one good turn deserves another, I took a piece of my now Triffid-like angel-winged begonia for her. I hope it thrives.
Pass it on! Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
This plant had been given to me as a tiny cutting and now is about two feet tall. In fact, most of my truly successful plants started with someone else. What started as a tiny rose geranium now fills two giant pots and several smaller ones. A number have been given to friends.
If you don’t have any green-fingered friends to rely upon, there are always cuttings to be taken from walks or even from plants that venture over the fence. My neighbour’s beautiful honeysuckle wandered into my territory and I took a little snip. It’s now a thriving climber.
Self-replicating plants
There are certain plants that are guaranteed to give the novice joy. They are the ones which, with minimal effort on our part, just reproduce. A few years ago, I decided that I wanted some spider plants, but they were not available in the shops. So, I went online and ordered four tiny plants – one an exotic curly one. Their little babies hang adorably from the mother plant and if you want to start a whole new plant, you only have to take a ‘baby’ and plant it in its own soil. I think that here I am a victim of my own success and have more spider plants than I know what to do with and am running out of friends to give them to.
From this …
To this Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
The beauty of bulbs
Spring is my favourite season and I eagerly await the emergence of the first flowers as winter makes its farewell. Our garden is full of bulbs and my husband planted even more last autumn. The wonderful thing with bulbs is not only that they reappear each year, but that they divide and provide ever increasing numbers of flowers. For perfect ones, it is advisable to dig up the bulbs and divide them every few years, but I confess I am too lazy to do that.
I also recycle any lovely flowering bulbs that I have been given. Many a daffodil and hyacinth in my garden began as a gift.
And speaking of gifts, flowers are always the most welcome. I love to give and receive bouquets of garden flowers. They require no air miles or unnecessary packaging. Cuttings and seedlings are wonderful too. When we are all conscious of living costs, such a thoughtful gift delivers without impacting too heavily on our pockets.
The gift that keeps on giving Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Being a canny gardener really means being a little more mindful of how we can use (and reuse) what we already have. And if you really want to purchase plants ready-made, my niece gave me a great tip. Buy the sad ones in the bargain bin! These plants, which might otherwise be thrown away, just need a little nurturing and time. They will almost certainly delight you next year.
Next week, I’ll look a gardening produce on a budget. I hope to see you then.
As someone who frequently suffers, like Winnie the Pooh, from having ‘Very Little Brain’, I have to create mnemonics to help me remember all the tasks that running a household involves. Since I have A LOT of houseplants, I decided to nominate Fridays for watering them. So far this seems to be working. When I exclaimed that my plants needed attention because is was Flower Friday, my husband assumed that it was thing: a day to give and receive flowers. What a lovely idea, I thought. And nothing is a ‘thing’ until we make it one. So here’s my suggestion, that on Fridays, we give our attention to flowers. Perhaps we remember to water them, or to make an arrangement or give a bouquet, large or small, to someone we care about. And of course, we are not restricted to Fridays. Every day gives an opportunity to celebrate flowers.
A host of golden daffodils Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
The power of potted plants
Much has been written about the benefits of filling your home with plants, so I thought I would check what the medical website, WebMD, had to say about it. Plants, it seems, are mini medics acting as air filters purifying the air of dust and pollutants whilst simultaneously increasing humidity and oxygen levels. Most of us know that plants improve mood and help us relax, but I was astonished to discover how they also improve our concentration levels and academic performance. ‘Students in classrooms with three potted plants performed better on math, spelling, reading, and science tests than kids in classrooms without any greens.’ (WebMD) Perhaps, rather than filling our schools with smart boards, we should be filling them with plants!
Spider plants are back! Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
In addition, they have important healing powers: improving both our mental and physical wellbeing. Bringing flowers to someone in a hospital bed does more than add a little colour to the ward. ‘Researchers found that people who had surgery got better faster if they had plants in their room or even a view of the nature from their window. They also tolerated pain better and needed fewer medications when surrounded by greenery.’ (https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/ss/slideshow-health-benefits-houseplants) With so much to offer for so little effort and cost, I now feel justified in getting some more.
Garden flowers
The last week or so the weather has been exceptionally fine and almost warm, so I take my breakfast out to the garden each morning. With the arrival of spring, my garden has erupted into a blaze of yellows, purples and whites and it would be churlish not to enjoy every minute of this magnificent display.
Breakfast on the bench. An ideal way to start the day! Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
And for me, gardens are the first point of welcome to my home. By planting lots of flowers on the path to our doors, we are making a celebration of each visitor. Though we are seldom able to spend a lot of time in our front gardens, we can still provide some colour to passers-by. I know that I enjoy the gardens of others and hope that they enjoy mine.
Flowers have always been tied to friendship and love. They are readily portable beauties that are meant to be shared. Though relatively inexpensive, they are much more certain to induce joy than even more expensive gifts. Simply put, flowers make us happy and the science backs this up. Giving flowers doesn’t have to be tied to a special occasion. In fact, the unexpected bouquet is often the most precious.
We don’t even need to buy them. If you are blessed with an abundance in the garden, take some each time you visit a friend. Tied with a simple ribbon, they look complete. Even if you don’t have a garden or florist shop nearby, tiny flowers from the verges are beautiful too. Daisies, buttercups, wild violas, pink campions and grasses have a delicate allure. Size does not matter. Some of my favourite arrangements are of tiny flowers set in little glass containers. A group of three makes a pleasing tableau.
Tiny flowers; big impact Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Pass it on
Another wonderful way to share is to give seedlings or cuttings of flowers. Friends often give me such things and more often than not they grow into majestic plants lasting several seasons. One friend gave me a tiny rose pelargonium, which now fills two large garden pots. Since these delightfully scented geraniums are hard to find, I’ve taken cuttings too and passed them on. There is something especially delightful in conjuring plants from nothing and in enjoying the fruits of someone’s nurturing.
This cutting of an angel winged begonia was a surprise gift.
My spider plant’s ‘babies’ have colonised many parts of my home and those of friends. And I have become less shy in asking for a cutting of a particularly pretty shrub. After all, we can all spare a little twig!
Fridays are for flowers
Tomorrow I shall need to do my watering and compost the old arrangements and make some new ones. It is a weekly ritual that never fails to raise my spirits. I hope that you will find time for flowers this Friday too. Whether you give them or receive them, may they bring you joy.
A flower a day keeps the blues at bay. While so many of us are struggling with our mental well-being at the moment, isn’t it good to know that a non-invasive solution is at hand? The power of flowers to dispel low mood and enhance well-being has been well documented. Studies conducted by the University of Vermont, Rutgers and Harvard all came to the same conclusion: flowers lead to an increase in happiness; boost creativity; foster greater compassion and more positive social behaviour. With so much to gain, it’s time to bring some floral healing into our lives and to share it with others too.
Sunflowers always make me smile Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Flowers at home
According to a Harvard study, having flowers in the home for even a few days can reduce anxiety and lead to a more positive mindset. Flowers are wonderful anywhere, but if you are really needing a bit of a lift, the study recommends you keep some in the kitchen when you will see them at the beginning of the day. Starting with the beauty and serenity of flowers is bound to set you on the right track.
Personally, I like to have flowers everywhere – in my kitchen (where I also have several flowering plants), in the bathroom, the lounge etc. That way, if I can’t spend much time in the garden, I can bring its beauty to me.
Do they require a little attention? Of course they do, but they are the least demanding of residents. Fridays are for flowers, so I check that everything has been watered well, vases refreshed or new flowers chosen on that day. At most, it requires half an hour and I am rewarded with beauty for the rest of the week. Is it expensive? Not at all.
Garden flowers Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Almost all my flowers are gathered from the garden and others have been generous in giving plants as gifts. I also have a lovely friend who gives me a miniature bouquet when she visits – often made up of wild flowers or tiny blooms from her garden and bound with a pretty ribbon. She uses grasses and seed heads and combines them with her artist’s eye into something exquisite. A stunning posy needs cost you nothing but a little time.
Support flowers
We’ve all heard of support animals, but what about support flowers? Personally, I think they have been overlooked. The same friend that brings the Lilliputian arrangements sends a daily picture of a flower to a number of friends via WhatsApp. Since she lives alone, it is an imaginative way of letting us all know that she is fine. It also gives her an opportunity to express her artistic flair.
When my friend in the States, who works as a court reporter, told me she was working on a grisly murder trial, I thought I would adapt the virtual flower message as one to give her cheer in what would be challenging days. So each morning, I select a joyful flower and email it with a brief note. This way, I can let her know I am thinking of her and I hope these images help erase the rather more gruesome ones she is forced to witness.
Rather more appealing than a crime scene photo Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
The gift of flowers
I read recently (I have no idea where) that flowers are the one gift that invariably brings a genuine smile to the recipient. So often we spend ages looking for exactly the right present only to discover that they have one already or they no longer favour that colour or design. With flowers, it is always a win. If you are feeling flush, delivered flowers have that extra level of excitement. And with excellent on-line choices, you can send them anywhere and in minimal time. During the first lock-down, when I was unable to go to the shops or post office, online flower services were my gift solution.
Now I am happy to go to the market or garden centre, my choices have expanded proportionately; though since it is summer, I would generally choose to go to my own garden first. The old fashioned and scented flowers I have there are seldom available in the shops.
And if I am just going for a coffee and want to bring a little something, miniature bouquets of the sort my friend brings are always an appropriate thank you. That is if I have no homemade cakes available!
A tiny thank you Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Flower power
I hope this post inspires you to display, grow and share more flowers. A little natural beauty in our lives; the joy of creativity in arrangements and the flush of success when our flowers thrive and bloom again cannot be beaten. I’ve even started saving seeds to share or even guerrilla garden in neglected areas. Whatever flowers you choose; whichever way you present them, they will always raise your spirits – and I for one am often in need of that.
Close up of a cornflower Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Cicero – famed orator, lawyer and politician was certainly wise. So, it is interesting that his most well-known quote is that above. Like most wisdom, it is not shaken by the passing of millennia. Indeed, his words are especially pertinent now that we live in urban environments where green spaces and white pages are being replaced by concrete and screens.
This quote lives on because it encapsulates all that is important for our well-being. Books and gardens are the ultimate holistic therapy, nourishing as they do our minds, our bodies and our spirits; bringing us balance and harmony.
What have the Romans ever done for us?
The Romans were mad about libraries and no self-respecting household would have been without one. These libraries were usually modest affairs made up of little more than an alcove or cupboard containing books. The library would be divided into two sections: one for Latin and the other for Greek texts.
It would be impossible to estimate the value of Latin learning upon modern civilisation. It is said that Petrach’s discovery of Cicero’s letters alone initiated the Italian (and then our own) Renaissance. Roman learning and oratory underpin the very foundations of our legal system, language and literature.
The value of books
Old books Image: Chris Lawton on Unsplash
Only the elite in Rome would have had a library. Books were prohibitively expensive, since prior to Gutenberg’s printing press, they were written by hand.
We, in contrast, have unlimited access to books. We can borrow them from public libraries, buy inexpensive ones from charity shops and modestly priced ones from our local book shop. Books are everywhere and the choices, when we add in the internet, are limitless.
Why read?
This is a question that I often ask my students and depressingly discover that it is something for which they seldom have much of an answer. Schools rarely ‘sell’ the idea of books and this is a real shame. They are seen as means of improving spelling and perhaps sources of information or entertainment, but not much else.
Books, of course, do much more than improve our language skills. Their most important function is to give the brain a good mental workout. Our minds need to be exercised as much as our bodies and the benefits are huge. Reading has been shown to: improve communication skills; reduce brain deterioration in old age; reduce stress (by up to 68%); increase creativity; improve inter-personal skills and empathy; increase our vocabularies and induce better sleep. Ideally, we should read books in their paper format for the best results.
The benefits to the workings of the mind are well documented, but I would also like to include the benefits that they can offer to our souls. Whatever our spiritual inclinations, there are books that can help and teach us. Reading is a slow process and so we have time to contemplate what is written at our leisure. I often read a few pages or a chapter, put the book down and think. I regularly reread books that I find particularly helpful to glean every last ounce of wisdom from them. (I’m on the third reading of Eckhart Tolle’s A New Earth).
Good literature too can have insights we might find valuable to our lives. A great deal of wisdom can be found in poetry, plays and fiction. Through reading we are opening ourselves up to other ways of seeing the world. We may not adopt them, but we at least have a better understanding.
Of course, one of the best places to read is the garden and when the weather is inclement, I retire to my ‘story shed’. Reading outside enables us to combine life’s two essentials.
The perfect combination! Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Gardens are especially wonderful because they provide an opportunity to improve our physical, mental and spiritual health.
The green workout
Those of you who garden are well aware that it is strenuous. Gardening is one of the best ways to exercise, burning a whopping 330 calories an hour. Yet, unlike many forms of exercise, it doesn’t really feel like work. Minutes and hours pass by in a sort of trance and as we stand to stretch out backs, we are often shocked by the amount of time that has passed.
My current situation means that I can only garden for very limited stretches of time (if I do not wish to end up face down in the dirt) but by careful management, I can do several short bursts. It may not make me fit, as such, but it keeps me mobile and I’ll take that.
Even if we don’t do much physical work, we can still benefit. We gain vitamin D from sunlight and B vitamins from the soil. A good play in the dirt is a great way to release all those micro-organisms that aid our gut and therefore our digestion. If we grow our own vegetables and herbs, we will eat more healthily too.
Garden therapy
Garden or horticultural therapy is nothing new, though it sadly fell out of favour for a while when modern medicines became the main ‘cure’ for mental disorders.
Fortunately, the benefits of the garden on the mind are being ‘rediscovered’ with brilliant work being done for all sorts of groups – from Alzheimers’ patients, to soldiers suffering from PTSD to young people with extreme anxiety and depression.
All of us will suffer from anxiety or low mood at some point in our lives. We all have to deal with grief, disappointment and anxiety. And the best therapy is, literally, on our doorstep.
If you are interested in how this works in detail, I cannot recommend highly enough Sue Stuart-Smith’s book The Well Gardened Mind. But for those who want a quick overview, numerous studies have proven that gardens bring numerous benefits, including: reducing stress and anxiety; promoting relaxation; cultivating a spirit of acceptance (since we can tend our garden but not control it); empathy through the nurturing of plants and lastly in bringing us hope. The winter may be severe – but we know that spring will follow.
The beauty of flowers
We should never underestimate the role of beauty in our lives – not the airbrushed variety in magazines, but the real beauty of nature.
I work at my garden all the time and with love. What I need most are flowers, always.
Claude Monet
And of all the plants in the garden, flowers are the showstoppers. Modern brain imaging techniques can illustrate how beauty literally fires up the pleasure centres in our brains causing us to release dopamine and serotonin – happy hormones – at the same time as our own opiods. ‘Hence, beauty calms and revitalises us at the same time.’ (Sue Stuart-Smith)
Flowers also play a role in our spiritual life. They are often used in religious teaching (Buddha’s flower sermon/ Jesus’ ‘Consider the lilies’) because they are such perfect emblems of a divine order. And there are few religious festivals which do not have flowers at their very heart.
Abundance Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
Contemplation of the perfect symmetry of a flower, is an excellent mindfulness technique and one I have used often when feeling a little fraught. Some flowers bring the additional benefit of fragrance and some, like the rose and lavender have well-known calming qualities.
So next time you see a flower – stop and smell it. I guarantee it will improve your day.
Garden roses – the scent of summer Image: Karen Costello-McFeat
I appreciate that not everyone will have access to a large garden, but the benefits I have written about hold true even if you only have a window box or a few flowers on the window sill or blooms in a vase. Books, as I have already said, are freely available. And if you have both? You have everything you need.
