The magic of a seed packet

The thank you card from my 100 year old friend.

I have written before about my enjoyment of watching small people get excited by plants.  Sunflower seeds, hyacinths and enormous amaryllis bulbs have all been given to our 2 year old great niece in the past year. Watching her measure herself against a fast growing sunflower or amaryllis is just so much fun. 

At the other end of the scale, just before Christmas I was wondering what to send to a friend who is 100.  Once she was a very keen gardener, now she is fragile and gardening isn’t on the agenda.  A couple of years ago I had sent her some notes about a gardening course I was doing at Great Dixter but I sensed that only made her more aware of what she could no longer do.   In previous Decembers, I had sent socks and soap and chocolate but this year I spied a packet of chilli seeds, on the desk in my office.  I knew I had one of those coir tablets used in seed kits, just add water, so I packaged up the seeds and the coir (with some chocolate!) and sent them off.

This week I received a thank you card.  The writing is very spidery and I am guessing takes some effort. The chocolate was a great hit because she is Swiss and it turns out it is made not far from the town where she was born , ‘MY HOMETOWN!!!” is written in capitals. 2023 had not been a good year with several months spent in hospital following a fall. I turned over the card to read two lines, a postscript, which made me smile: “I shall most definitely grow the chilli seeds. Sounds like fun!”

So my conclusion is that the magic of seeds, be they sunflower seeds or chilli seeds is to be found whether we are 2 years old or 100 years old.   The excitement of planting that tiny powerhouse and just adding some water and waiting and watching.  Tom Hart Dyke, who has built the World Garden at Lullingstone Castle, says that his love of gardens was inspired by his granny giving him a packet of carrot seeds when he was 3yrs old and look where that took him - you’ll know if you have listened to Penn’s Viburnum. 

I think I shall be sending out more seeds this year. In the meantime I thought I would share with you a clip from next weeks Viburnum Offshoot episode. It was recorded in Holehird Gardens in the Lake District, sitting on a rather special bench, talking to Vicky Aspen. Her curiosity about William Purdom, started on this bench and led to a book and a visit to China. Purdom’s observations about the impact of cutting down trees for the railroads, were surely ahead of his time.

Have a lovely week.

Sally