A Requiem for Holly
It snowed again this week. And once again my garden looked beautiful. But there was one thing missing: my potted holly tree that used to stand against the back fence. I bought the tree when it was just a wee bairn, four years ago. I decked it out with bits and baubles and brought it inside as an avant garde Christmas tree. My mother tried to hide her horror and each year since has politely enquired if I’m finally going to get a ‘proper’ tree.
But I loved it, even if I had to tie faux berries on, and repotted it every year after stripping the seasonal glitz and releasing it back into the elements. This year, sadly, my holly bush was in no fit state to usher in the yuletide as when I came back from my sunshine break in South Africa, I found it floundering in the jasmine. A winter gale had blown it over, pot and all, and I hadn’t been there to pick it up and whisper comforting words as I took it into the car port for shelter. And the most tragic thing of all: it had finally produced berries. Continue reading ‘A Gardener’s Gospel - Week 4′
Back to the Book
My comments last week about out of sight, out of mind, made me feel surprisingly guilty. So as soon as the snow melted and the rain stopped I got into the garden for a bit of a tidy. Leaves were raked, doggy-do located and disposed of and some dead Lobelia pulled out in fistfuls. Oh dear, is it perennial? Should I have left it? Hang on while I check … oh no, the RHS A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants tells me it is! And just when I was hoping that my understanding of ‘perennial’ - that they die down every year then grow again from root - was the wrong one, Alan Titchmarsh’s How to be a Gardener tells me that I’m not. Continue reading ‘A Gardener’s Gospel - Week 3′
An Anointing of Snow
It snowed today and my garden looks beautiful. Each blade of grass is a tiny icicle tree, clumps of snow on fallen leaves form misshaped snowballs and the hanging basket that I haven’t got round to removing is an abstract ice sculpture. The murky browns and faded greens look rich against the stark, white canvas and I am reminded once again of how snow has a way of transforming the ugly and mundane into a picture of breathtaking beauty.
It also gives me an excuse not to tidy up the garden this week. Out of sight, out of mind, my granny always used to say. Sadly, it doesn’t last long. Snow falls in Newcastle in the North East of England never lie for long these days. Not like when I was a lass living in a Northumbrian village. Aye, them were the days! You would lose your glove and never find it again until the spring. School would be cancelled, not because of some neurotic health and safety directive that the kiddies might slip or catch a chill, but because the water pipes had literally frozen up and the seven feet snowdrifts were simply impassable.
Continue reading ‘A Gardener’s Gospel - Week 2′
The Messy Garden
In my busy life of writing, teaching, housework and childcare there’s one place I find a haven: my garden. My husband’s not much of a gardener, the dog only visits to do its business and my nearly-three-year-old daughter is currently more interested in her indoor Christmas toys than the leaf-soaked slide and waterlogged sandpit. The garden is my place. I am responsible for its upkeep and care. And when things get out of hand, it’s my fault.
Things are out of hand at the moment. I didn’t manage to give the lawn that final trim in November - partly due to rain, partly due to my over-busy work schedule. Then in December I was off on a family holiday in South Africa (don’t get me started on the sunshine, clivias and hibiscus!). So the roses are scraggly, the flowerbeds weedy and the un-raked leaves a soggy cover for the squishy dog poo underneath. And thanks to the dog (a seven-month old border collie / greyhound mix) I doubt that any of my carefully planted bulbs will spring to life this year in my flowerbed under the Whitebeam tree.
Continue reading ‘A Gardener’s Gospel - Week 1′
In this fourth session on Writing as Worship and Witness we will look at how writing can enrich your relationship with God. In the first session we explored how you can find your writing style. In the second, we looked at whether or not everything a Christian writes has to be overtly ‘Christian’. In the third session we considered how to use your writing to share God’s message with others. In this session we will overview how your writing aids you in your worship of God.
Continue reading ‘Writing as Worship’
Welcome to my site - I'm Fiona Veitch Smith, a freelance journalist, author, playwright and writing teacher. This site contains thoughts and articles I've written on a range of topics. I hope you find them useful.
