Memories of a garden …

So we returned to Rhodesia. Mum was picked up from work and we travelled the 10 hours to Bulawayo. We followed our progress on little hand held strip maps where you turned over a page each time a section was done. My mother’s brother and his wife with their children welcomed us into their home and we stayed with them for some weeks. It didn’t seem long as we enjoyed hanging from and climbing in the large tree in their garden. There were also good long walks through the town to the public swimming pool, with a free adult and then being picked up by someone coming home from work.

Time went by and then quite unexpectedly we were taken to see our new home. I don’t remember seeing it beforehand or being part of the decision making. I guess we were just having a good time with our cousins.

I sat down to draw this home and there was no “trying” feelings at all. It was all there in my mind. I loved this garden.

There were the jacaranda trees standing outside the fence . Painted white to half way up their trunks, to stop the ants attacking them and covered in purple / blue flowers. Then there was the fence and here and there hibiscus shrubs. These presented noticeable blooms with barberton daisies at their feet. Once through the gates three very tall conifers greeted us as we then walked onto the veranda/porch . The wall surrounding this had a built in cavity in which pink geraniums grew. The smell of geranium is good for detering snakes and I loved picking the flowers for my room.

Down the right side of the house grew stately poplars, so much like the ones I liked to photograph in France, with their leaves constantly in motion and catching the light. Then along the back boundary was a curtain of bottle brush trees. Dramatic when red with full bloom allowing bees and insects to cling on all over. Infront of those trees was a raised rose garden. It was never as prolific as any you see in London but each rose was enjoyed either for its shape, colour or smell.

A kumquat tree and an all-year-round bearing lemon tree then grew near the roses with two grapefruit trees not far from Dad’s compost heap. Each of these trees had cement pipes sunk down deep near to their roots so we could water them efficiently.

A splash of rich purple boganvilla then covered an old thorn tree with a large log underneath and tall yellow marguerites grew behind. A home for us provided by dad and mum.