An Old Gardener Remembered

[Myssterry]

I have been rambling on in various parts of AVEN about the annihilation of my late neighbour's garden.  He died just over two years ago at 92.  He was devoted to his garden which probably kept him going after his wife, who he had looked after for many years after she deveoped serious health problems, died.

 

The newish neighbours are literally taking everything out and bringing in a digger soon to finish the job.  They have zero interest in gardening and it will just be fences, paving and a lawn.

 

This is a little tribute to the old man, as, infuriating as he could be, I find it sad that every last vestige of his garden is now dying with him. 

 

He let the foxes have a den in the end corner of his garden, and I know he loved the robins, and his garden had good habitat for them.  Its glory was a magnificent magnolia tree that went last year.  The camellias he loved were hacked down when in full flower. The little double white cherry tree died last weekend, hacked to death when in bud.  There isn't much left to kill, but it will happen.

 

This was his garden in its full glorious eccentricity.

 

Spoiler

  He was a bit keen on having statues everywhere.  His family removed them after his death.

 

If you were honoured, you would be taken on a tour of the garden.  The flower garden in the front was redesigned each year with annuals which fed the foraging bees.  it is now a car park with bits of old cars all over the place.

 

Spoiler

 

The magnolia shortly before it was massacred.  The back garden is now an empty wreck. 

 

The whole thing is like a lesson in the vanity of human life, how nothing we create will live on when we are gone. I did save a clump of one of his plants though, having asked the new neighbour for it.  I split it in three and it is now growing in two places in my garden and the third clump is in another garden.

 

Spoiler

 

(Poem by Jim Yerman.)

 

 

[Forest Spirit]

😕 I understand when people don't want to take care of a garden but why chop down trees that don't really do much? That magnolia tree looks wonderful!

 

Very lovely tribute though🌱❤️

[daveb]

Looks like it was a lovely garden and loved in his time.

 

So sad that it's being decimated.

 

Nice tribute to the garden and the gardener.

[Sea Lemon]

That's a shame, I'm glad he and his garden will be remembered. 

 

Something similar happened with a neighbour of my parents. Her name was Daphne and I'm pretty she'd lived there for quite a while before we did - she had a BEAUTIFUL garden, so many flowers and so many colours, it was one of my favourite things about the street I grew up on. She died a few years ago and a new family bought the house, and they just ripped the whole thing up and paved it

 

Here's to the gardeners 🌸🌺💮🏵️🌻🌼🌷🌱

[Techie]

I live in the suburbs east of New York City. A lot of trees and green space in my area and still in my neighborhood. Unfortunately, many of us people who were born and raised in this area noted a disturbing trend. A lot of people would flee from the boroughs of New York City, like Queens, and purchase a house out here. First thing they would do is cut down all the trees on the property, tear up a lot of the grass and pave it. There seems to be an attitude of city born and raised people that where they move to has to be paved over too and that trees are something to be eliminated. Our town had an ordinance against the removal of old trees but several legal challenges basically put it on indefinite hold. If I look at pictures of my neighborhood from 30 years ago, there were a lot more trees here than there are now. Granted, several reached the end of their life and had to come down but many were removed because they "annoyed" their new owners.

[Muledeer]

Nice tribute.  I hope this helps you mourn the loss of this beautiful place.  Those photos really showed it well.

[Tja]

Glorious!

As long as he had the passion to make it, and you were able to witness it, and we had the chance to see it, it will be around and enjoyed for quite a while...if only in memory.

(Please see Leonard Nimoy quote below)

[thylacine]

Make a garden dedicated to his memory.  I'm sure he'll look down from above and see it.

[Myssterry]

6 hours ago, thylacine said:

Make a garden dedicated to his memory.  I'm sure he'll look down from above and see it.

That is a lovely idea.  He was such a good old-school gardener I am not sure I can live up to his standards, but I could try.  I do have the plant I rescued, and a couple of others that came through the fence and grow well here.  And as @Tja says the memories.

[Tja]

16 hours ago, Mysterry said:

That is a lovely idea.

I agree.