DIGGING THE SOUL REVIVAL
This year’s greats in our Top of the Plots contest tell a story about their creators
In our search for the best plots, this year we decided to simplify our competition down to two categories. We wanted to find best overall garden and best small garden – including window boxes and planters. And that’s because we felt these were what you, the Mirror readers, really cared about.
Once again we have been delighted by the massive bag of entries and we’ve taken the time to read and review every single one.
It’s clear that while the country may be in political turmoil, gardening is thriving, and as a nation we love colour, the craft of gardening, the memories associated with it and the sense of community that creating a great garden can bring.
It’s tough being a judge. Because while it’s a great privilege to look at your creativity, it’s hard selecting winners from such a postbag of passion.
In each and every case what I’m looking for is the soul of the garden – that image, those sentiments which let me know that these Edens are our Top of the Plots.
As with every postbag there are snippets from others that I’d love to share with you.
I loved Patricia Olds’ letter about her garden in Whitley Bay in North Tyneside being “balm for the soul”.
Her late husband Peter loved the garden and inspired her interest in it. Since he died, Patricia finds great comfort in tending it, working among the trees and shrubs he had planted, each with a memory, which makes her feel close to him.
Roy and Rita Cooper shared with us the delightful story of how over the last 24 years they transformed the front garden of their Suffolk cottage in Stowupland, which leads out onto the village green, into an intriguing garden of pavilions, koi carp pools, terraces and lush colourful planting.
In all that time they’ve only taken two holidays – their devotion to their garden is total.
I can pick out the evidence of trends in British gardening over that time, from Alan Titchmarsh’s Barleywood Blue to my own love of tree ferns. This is a history of recent gardening in a capsule.
Philip Canter in Chippenham, Wilts, has a lovely wavy lawn, a green carpet with herbaceous borders on either side to transport you to an enticing seat at the end, while
Zena Everest of Crawley, West Sussex, sent an image of her crisp American-style garden which she and her husband have developed over the last 20 years.
It wraps around the house on two levels, and Zena tells us that her particular delight is the unexpected vistas that it opens up.
It is packed with bulbs and perennials, but what really stands out are the trees and shrubs, and the perfectly maintained lawn which acts like a sharp pool of green
The lawn acts like a sharp pool of green to help the eye meander
as it helps the eye meander around and through the plot.
Since 2011, every Tuesday morning
Grace Edwards and a group of volunteers in the Growing Together Community Garden gather at the library in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. They’ve created a haven for urban wildlife, attracting birds, butterflies and bees.
This community spirit brings people together, builds confidence for each individual, and helps them through stresses in their own lives.
It’s the power of gardening in action.