Garden Diaries: January Celebrations

“Which month shows our garden at its best? Each month we exchange old beauties for new ones. If we could have them all together, what a wealth of loveliness it would be. Since we cannot, which month shall we choose to throw a small party?”

                                                                                                   ~A.A.Milne

My answer to the question above is undoubtedly January. Well, I may not be a great fan of parties or socialising but I like this month. Somehow, in my mind, this is “my month”. Other than the fact that the month starts with my birthday – I kind of like it for what it represents. New beginnings, a celebration and lots of introspection for the year gone by and of course, eating. But more on that later.

Few days back I came across two Japanese words/ concepts which very deeply explain my feelings for my garden this month. 

Dahlia- the big and beautiful

The first was Mono-no-Aware (MOH-no no ah-WA-reh). Mono-no-aware says that beauty is subjective, and it’s our sensitivity to the world around us that makes it beautiful. In particular, the transience of the physical world and our awareness that beauty is impermanent makes us appreciate it more. It is considered that the epitome of mono-no-aware is the sight of cherry blossom petals falling in the springtime. I often look at my flowerbeds and think of their impermanence. 

A pink rose in different stages 

That kind of make me greedier in savouring it. Every morning when I step into my garden, I can’t help remembering that it won’t last forever. Sooner or later – I will leave this station, this office, this garden. It fills my heart with gratitude that I got to enjoy and savour so much beauty here. A true mono-no-aware sentiment.

Tiny pansies

The second concept is Oubaitori (oh-buy-toe-ree) – an idiom made from the characters for the four trees that flower in the springtime, cherry, plum, peach, and apricot, this means that people shouldn’t live their lives comparing themselves to others, but instead value their own unique traits- like the unique traits of the four spring trees. It is also so true for the gardens. While all gardeners compare and take pride in their gardens, it is actually quite meaningless. No two gardens are same – no two plants are same. Each has its own beauty. Just to cite an example, in colder countries I have seen very colourful and sturdy stock flowers. They are tall healthy sticks in unbelievable colours. In my own garden, my stocks are never so tall. It may have to do with climate or soil or even seeds……in comparison they may look petite, but I love them. They look so fresh and so welcoming.

My not-so-tall Stocks

"In my garden there is a large place for sentiment.  My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.  The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful."    

                                                                                                                     -  Abram L. Urban

Garden provides one an ideal setting for introspection, for reflection and for getting nostalgic. How can I not feel nostalgic in January when the month starts with my birthday and ends with the day I lost my father 20 years back. Two decades is a long time and yet every time I look at my Cineraria plants I think of Papa, every day when I check on my sweet pea climbers, I remember him doing that years back. In those days we did not have so many hybrid seeds available as we have now. Also many foreign flowers have now made their way in Indian gardens. I am sure Papa would have  been delighted to have primroses, buttercups or purple salvias in his garden.  

Ranuculus- Buttercups

My garden in January is full of flowers- the newest entrants are stocks, buttercups, primroses, calendulas and lot more pink cosmos. Of course we are still waiting for the ice flowers, paper flowers and Larkspurs. The fun part is, you always enjoy the flowers which are difficult to grow and make you wait , much more than the easy ones. Even better are flowers that surprise you completely as you never knew they were coming. This month , suddenly one of my Cactus bloomed. I only found out later that it is called Christmas Cactus and it normally blooms around Christmas. Well, it bloomed in January and it was profuse flowering . It has beautiful pink flowers which make my heart dance every morning .

Christmas Cactus on Bloom 

 But then, a garden is not made just with flowers or grass. The other essential ingredients include sunshine, trees, birds, bugs  and bees. Yes, bees are important for any eco-system. For last year and half there was a huge beehive on a big tree, just opposite my gate and naturally many honeybees came to the garden. Late in December one day all of a sudden, I found that the bees have left the hive en-masse. 

An abandoned Beehive

The abandoned hive was there and two brave squirrels were licking the remaining honey out of it. It made me curious. On reading more about it I learnt that it is called absconding and it is a well-known behaviour pattern of bees. Absconding is when the bees completely abandon their hive. All or almost all of the bees leave the hive along with the queen. They may leave behind young bees, who cannot fly, unhatched brood and pollen. . 

I am not sure what was the reason here but luckily for my little eco-system, there is another beehive on the mango tree which is full of activity and is bursting with bees.

Much like flowers, even the kitchen garden is looking superb these days. The joy of plucking a cabbage from your garden and cooking it , has a pleasure of its own. Well, we also have Cauliflowers, Green garlic, Radishes, spinach, tomatoes and of course, gooseberries.

Cosmos

The last year in garden was an amazing learning. This year too seems so full of possibilities. Hope to grow many more new flowering plants and learn new tricks of gardening in coming months.