Last autumn I was going for my weekly walk with two friends, and we were commenting as we walked on the beauty of the plants in some of our neighbours’ gardens. We came to a garden with an elderly couple both gardening, and stopped for a brief chat with them. I admired the cornflowers bobbing in the breeze. Many of them had already gone to seed and the seedpods were pretty too.

The lady told us to wait, then took a bag and put many seed heads from the plants into a plastic bag and gave them to me. I thanked her, not knowing really what to do with them, as we have a shady garden, apart from a little vegetable patch.

I went home and after a week or so decided that I would put them in the veggie patch as I had no other sunny spot. Then nature could decide whether to raise them for me.

This Spring (after a horrible year of fires) we have had the best rains in eleven years. I live in Australia, where rain is not taken for granted. All the seeds sprouted, and friends are now asking for seeds from “my” plants.

What a kind gardener that lady was, and how much joy she has brought. Those cornflowers remind me of my growing up in England, my family, my first home. Magical.

Paula

A Moodscope member.