Anthea Turner How I See It...

Hello,

I’m so excited My Weekly is getting back to the garden in next week’s issue! I’m from a long line of enthusiastic gardeners – the Victorian landscaper Sir Humphrey Repton features in our family tree! The first garden I recall visiting was Chatsworth House. The Duke’s Cascade water feature proved all too alluring to “little Turner” who slipped, fell in and spent the rest of the trip drying out.

Freshly cut grass will always be my aroma of summer and Dad to this day is happiest pushing a mower. Brian has always called the garden his gym. Garden, balcony, window ledge, hanging basket – what is it about plants? Is it the fact we’re programmed to nurture something placed in our charge? Is it that a plant brings instant beauty and changes each day? Was King Charles bonkers or spot-on when he said he spoke to plants to encourage them to grow?

Healing Powers

When I went from a large, busy household to living on my own I didn’t cope well. No one needed me in the way they used to – but my plants did, and I thank them for their part in my healing.

Every morning I went into the garden to check on their welfare and yes, I spoke to them and they answered me back with beautiful blooms.

Last year at Chelsea Flower Show I met the charity Green Fingers. They create and maintain gardens in the grounds of hospices, where families are going through the most testing times of their lives. Yet a garden full of plants and trees calms and comforts when little else will.

London’s Royal Parks are part of the community; people flock to them. One close to me has a walled garden and any time you will find people there, often on their own, sitting reading or just being.

I can’t meditate in the true sense but I do my own version in a park, normally by a tree. I just sit gazing around and after 20 minutes am refreshed and good to go. Obviously I take something to sit on, as I know what Soho my dog does up against a tree!

I do wish that community groups supported by councils would begin gardening groups. Many people going through difficult times don’t need tranquilisers; they just need a gardening project. There are so many unloved areas that would benefit.

Love, Anthea X