Meeting Ms. Daisy..

All my friends know that I have the absolute ability to kill any plant by mere association. But that doesn’t stop them from helping me in my quest to have a garden.
It all started with me telling a friend in Canada that I was working in my garden and had to run inside to get my phone and that was the reason I was panting like a rabid dog and nothing else!
“Garden?” She asked with all the subtlety one can muster before asking a murderer such a trivial question.
“Yes, garden, with real plants and real flowers” I replied.
“Oh my !” She replied.
“have you talked to a landscape artist?” She asked
I have heard of many kinds of artist, but landscape artist was not in that list
“What do the landscape artist do?” I asked
“Oh my” she said
I thought I would tell her to shut up if she said one more “oh my”
 Now, my friend is a well known Interior designer.. ( she designed/decorated or whatever you call the job she does  houses for Malaysian elites) So I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by telling her to shut up when she really is trying to help me.

Few weeks ago, she called me to tell me that she managed to get an appointment with Ms. Daisy ( not her real name) a landscape artist in Brisbane, who is usually very busy and will not see every Tom, Jane and June! In other words, I was warned that it was a privilege to meet Ms,Daisy and not screw it up.

So I went to see Ms. Daisy.
The first question Ms. Daisy asked
“What kind of garden  do you want?”
Hells Bells ! How do I know that?
You should have seen the myriads of disgust/disbelief expressions on Ms. Daisy’s face when I told her the simple truth..” I have no idea, what kind of garden I want”
Things went rapidly downhill and eventually Ms. Daisy suggested, I look online, find the garden I want and then make another appointment !

And on the drive back home, I thought what kind of garden I want?
Ideally, I would have loved something like Claude Monet garden in Giverny or the Buchart garden in Victoria..But whenever I buy a pot of plant, I take such good care that I forget to water it. In the event I remember to water it, I do such a terrific job to drown the poor plant. ( How was I to know that you don’t water succulents twice a day?) and in the event the plant survived the initial neglect/ over enthusiasm and actually grew an inch, then I get all excited and try to propagate it by either cutting it in half or splitting it in the middle. Not many survive this part,. and if it did, then I do the one thing that absolutely guarantee a sudden demise. I apply fertilizer !!

Well, for me gardening is  not just about killing plants, it is all about supporting a huge industry.
Let me explain
Each time I buy a plant and then kill it, I support the guy/gal who planted the seed, watered, etc, the guy/gal who works at the nursery, even the guy at the recycling factory where the pot ends up. If I don’t keep buying the plants, how will all these people live?
See the burden on my shoulder?

So the kind of garden I want? Simple..anything that can last  a month under my love and care…beyond that, the industry will suffer and I can’t do that, Can I?

2 thoughts on “Meeting Ms. Daisy..

  1. Hi Sarah,
    I am very interested in making flower and veg garden. In kerala we have enough land for all these. But that time I was very lazy. But now in gulf I cant even think of it. All I can do is to play Farm Ville in facebook :). Now I am reading articles and waching farm related TV programs hoping that one day when I return to kerala, I would try to have a nice garden with veg and flowers.
    Any way Sarah I am addicted to your blog. My office days start with reading your blog with a black tea.

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