The Environment and I

27.06.2023 - 08:51 / aberdeengardening.co.uk

What is the The Environment and I all about. Well its just me banging on about stuff that’s on my mind at this moment. Probably at a later date when I check this out I will think what the heck am I saying and quickly delete the post.

In the meantime, this is about as much as I have to offer regarding plant life in the garden on this cold Winter morning.

Hamamelis Arnolds Promise

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The Rhododendron bud, promise of what’s to come.

The Environment and I

The environmentalists, I suppose for me the story starts in my childhood in the 1950s. First of all, may I say I have nothing but admiration for those who behave in a sensible manner regarding the environment.  I, like the majority of you, play a sensible part in recycling, I hate to be wasteful, and my gardening habits have changed to a degree which would morally be rather more acceptable than it once may have been.

In the early to mid-50s in the UK living standards, I think it would be accurate for me to say were rather Spartan. However, before I talk about how life was for me, consider how it was for my 90-year-old mother as a child back in the 20s and early 30s.

For the underprivileged, optimistically referred to as the working class, life for many was nothing less than tragic. My mother the eldest of six children tells me of times when there was no money for food or clothing. Without shoes, they were forced to get boots from a charity organisation, and on Winter days went to school in a thin Summer dress. Those who were lucky enough to have fathers at work would laugh at the unfortunate waifs.

When my mother was sixteen years old her own mother died, she would only ever tell us that it was of a broken heart. Mother was old enough