New Year Resolutions 2025
I get it. The world is divided into those who say ‘nah, I don’t do resolutions’ and those who’ve been mulling over the list, long before the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve. I am in the latter camp but then I am also the person who loves that new term, new pencil case September feeling. I think it is a sign of the optimist side of me, winning over the realist side of me! Think of all the wonderful things that can happen just as a result of a list of resolutions….
Found a plant label!
Resolution 1: So let’s start with a seemingly simple one. Plant labels! I have all the right intentions, but then…”where are the plant labels” or great got the plant labels but “WHERE is the pen that works on these labels” or worse of all, “its fine I am going to remember what is in that pot”. Volunteering in the Inner Temple, I watched everything get labelled, they even had one of those machines that prints out labels - I know I don’t need that level of label, though the kit is fun. I just need labels in the right place, with the pen, before I go and plant something.
Resolution 2: Paying more attention to what is under my nose in the garden and making notes. I either read or someone told me, that if that incredible gardener Christopher Lloyd was teaching someone and they didn’t have a notebook in hand, then he didn’t take them seriously. I was lucky enough to once do a course at Great Dixter. It was spread over a year and taught by Fergus Garrett and Edward Flint and I always made sure I had my notebook in my pocket. I fear when I am busy and moving from task to task, the practice of just looking and observing and making notes can get lost. In my new office space 3 floors up at tree level, I have been enjoying a viburnum which is definitely the star of all the trees around it with beautiful pink blossom at the turn of the year. Yet perhaps it needs some judicious pruning because in the garden, at grass level, you don’t really appreciate or smell it as much because the blooms are so high above you! You might remember that it was the smell of a viburnum that set Penn Allen on her story of Will Purdom.
Resolution 3: Find time (yes I know, generations of humans have been searching for that) to read more of the books on my shelves or even on the floor by the bed. I love reading articles on my phone, articles in magazines but so much work and knowledge and expertise has gone into some of the books on my shelves. So instead of reaching for the phone for 10 mins can I reach for one of those books? Yesterday I began a book, given to me by Jo for Christmas: How to Read a Tree. The author’s point is that trees tell stories (definitely) and his interest began with the way they can aid navigation. This is a man, Tristan Gooley, who has explored all over the world, so his navigational needs may be different to mine. However I love this description of silver birches - ‘unusually, the silver birch can cope with wet ground and moderate drought. I have so much respect for the silver birch: it’s the tree that would be the last to grumble on a cold, wet family camping trip.’
Resolution 4: To visit more gardens or parks in my city. If you are on Instagram I would urge you, for some inspiration, wherever you live, to follow this account: https://www.instagram.com/all_london_parks/
Munira is ‘aiming to visit every public park and major green space in London (all 4,000-ish of them)’. She has just posted her top 5 London green spaces in 2024 - her fourth end of year list. I love the way she explores different parks and writes about them. I loved the sound of the Meanwhile Gardens and you can read the story behind this intriguing name here. Munira’s travels remind me of those of Janet’s mum, who would take her children on the bus to find green spaces in or around a city.
I do hope that some of you reading this, are in the: ‘love a NewYear’s Resolution list’ camp! In which case I’d love to hear your NY plant resolutions in the comments or you can email them to me at sally@ourplantstories.com. Perhaps one of them will lead to a plant story…
Have a lovely weekend
Sally
x