Why would anyone need to go on holiday when you have temperatures soaring into the thirties?
The photographs are of my back garden, an oasis of tranquillity, full of birds tweeting, the woodpecker pecking, the parakeets squawking. It’s far too hot to sit in the garden, the sun too strong, it’s far too hot to sit indoors, the heat of lethargy ebbing and flowing through my body. All I want is a cool drink, a pool to dip into and an enjoyable book to read. Alas, no pool, but I plan to have the other two in my hand once the house creates shade on the patio.
The black-and-white photograph is of my parents. They were gardeners, like many who came to England, they grew plants like methi, coriander, the plants that weren’t available readily at the grocers. My parents’ back garden in Coventry was the vegetable garden, with the occasional Passiflora or sweet peas. Large beds full of spinach, methi, coriander, radish, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes. They lined the front garden with flowers, roses that gave off their intoxicating scent at night. My mother and father had the knack of taking a seed and planting it in some soil, and a plant would materialise overnight. Magic green fingers, my fingers are not as green, I have successes and failures. But the love instilled in us of seeing something grow from seedling is still mesmerising. The other photograph is of my sisters, they have the magic green fingers and their houses and gardens are full to bursting with plants.
My back garden is full of tropical plants that remind me of hotter climates, Dicksonia, false Banana plants, Trachycarpus Palms, Crocosmia, Gunnera that grow in the pond-like environment of the small gravel area. Thank you Pippa Schofield for the plant suggestion and my wonderful garden design. Who wants to go away on holiday when you have a bit of the exotic far east in your back garden.

@sazvora