GRANDMA’S LEGACY

Growing up in the 1950s, our annual summer holiday was a train ride from Liverpool to Sunderland to visit Grandma. Our family of six squeezed into her one-bed flat and had to hide when the rent man came! Grandma had a plant on her windowsill, known only as ‘Grandma’s plant’, which obligingly produced lots of little babies that were potted up, grown on and shared around our family. I’d never actually seen it in flower, but once we’d identified it as a Scarborough lily (Cyrtanthus elatus), I discovered that it needs sunshine, feeding and a rest period to flower. During last year’s long hot summer, my own Grandma’s plant finally flowered. It it was definitely worth the wait! Margaret Templeton, by email