Why I wrote this book for you
All gardens are a source of joy, surprise and wisdom.
Our twenty-acre property, Evergreen, is situated in wetlands on the south coast of Western Australia, between Albany and Denmark. Rob and I moved here with our five children thirty years ago. We call it Evergreen because the swamp couch and kikuyu grasses remain green all year round.
Evergreen shares a fence line with the Eungedup Wetlands, a bird sanctuary of national significance established in 2023. Occasionally the call of the endangered Australasian Bittern can be heard, alongside the distinctive autumn mating call of the Moaning Frog, native to south-western Western Australia. This place continually amazes me with its seasonal variations, energetic growth and wildlife.
Fifteen acres of Evergreen are undulating hills covered in coastal scrub, with some peppermints, coastal karris, and cockatoo-attracting banksias scattered throughout. Firebreaks weave around and through this area, providing safe tracks for walking, and for spotting mushrooms in winter and orchids in spring.
The other five acres contain the house and sheds, and an expanse of three acres of bright green lawn that turns into a shallow lake in winter, abounding with waterbirds. Beside the cedar-clad two-storey house is a garden with trees, bushes, flowers and vegetables.
I don’t know the Latin names of plants. Nor am I an expert gardener. My garden is wild. If a spinach plant pops up between the zinnias, I leave it there to flourish. Lettuce seedlings nestle under roses. Towering hollyhock seed stalks thrust their way through banana palms, and an olive tree grows alongside purple buddleias while offering shade to fiery red geraniums.
Inspirational Messages
The garden teaches me things – like not to let pumpkin vines stage a successful takeover, and mint shouldn’t be planted directly in the soil but in a concrete bunker with no holes for notoriously adventurous roots to escape.
It also offers inspirational messages and teaches me how to respond to the ups and downs of life, including death, because that happens all the time in a garden.
Everyone’s life has wild parts in it. Unforeseen things happen. No one knows what will appear next as each day unfolds.
When I spend time in the garden, sipping coffee amidst exuberant flowers, and sometimes helping things grow, it reveals how to accept the unexpected and embrace change.
I felt a desire to share the wisdom I’ve gleaned from the garden at Evergreen, so decided to write it all down and put it in the form of a book. When my daughter Merribeth offered to do watercolour illustrations to accompany the topics, I knew her artwork would turn it into a thing of beauty.
So, if you’d like to come on a journey through the garden at Evergreen to absorb the messages and symbolism it holds, go to Amazon.com on Sunday 1st December,, type in What My Garden Told Me in the search box, click on the link, and buy a copy for yourself and one for a friend!
What My Garden Told Me will be available for purchase on Amazon.com on 1st December, in time for Christmas!
With love, Marlane
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