welcome

Oof the things a great gardening story does is spark a sense of urgency in the reader. Suddenly, there’s no time to be lost in planting, pruning, feeding, dividing or whatever the topic of the story was. That’s how I felt reading Arno King’s story on growing lotus.

First was the snippet that lotuses are not related to waterlilies. Who knew? Then the revelation that not only are lotuses very beautiful, they’re easy to grow, they’re suitable for my climate, and they’re happy in pots – a vital piece of information, as I am not in the market for pond building! And I was particularly taken with the detail that in pots, it needs a substrate of garden soil, not potting mix, which may have had something to do with the sense of urgency, as I’ve been trying to ‘hide’ an overflow of garden mix in beds all over the place, so my garden now resembles a ride at Coney Island, with all the up down, up down terrain… Anyway, by the end of the story, I was thinking, why aren’t I growing some lotuses? Get me a pot, get me some plants, let’s get this thing happening…!

I also found sustenance in the English lavender story (page 14), even though there’s no chance of growing it at my place, and the ‘war on waste’ story is chock-a-block with ideas and inspiration. But my favourite story this month is Tim Entwisle’s piece on Fibonacci numbers, and the way they pop up in plant structures, as well as manmade structures, where we respond intuitively to the numbers in the sequence. You know that thing about planting in threes or fives? That’s all about Fibonacci. Your hugely enjoyable maths lesson is on page 46.

Me, I’m off to research large pots for lotuses, and I hope this issue prompts you to do something to get your own gardening year off to a cracking start.