Heaven Scent
My garden is situated in Waverley Cemetery at my mother’s grave site. The cemetery itself has a rugged beauty with its undulating terrain and its seasonal wildflowers, the sea as its backdrop. It’s a place of tranquillity and history with its marble angels and epitaphs of love, sadness and hope. I love walking through it especially when the wildflowers are out, the coreopsis in the summer with its swathes of golden yellow flowers and the soft cream freesias in the spring, the colourful watsonias and rambling roses, it is a stunning and remarkable place which I love.
My mother passed away 4 years ago, she loved Van Gogh especially his Starry night painting and his flower paintings. We found a beautiful resting spot for her under the starry skies, and it is here I started my garden.
It is amazing how one tiny patch of earth can bring so much joy. Over time the garden has spread and has incorporated the graves of others who have long passed and whose plots are no longer looked after. I enjoy making a beautiful garden honouring my mother and others buried here, as well as encouraging native birds, butterflies and bees who are attracted by the scent of flowers. Over 4 years the native bird and bee visits have been incredible. I garden regularly and have made friends with the blue heron and the goannas, kookaburras and lorikeets. I have met many people while gardening here. It seems all who pass by love a garden and a chat, some bring a cutting or just come to smell the flowers and say hello. I think it would be amazing for others to adopt a neglected plot and plant flowers or shrubs to attract the native birds especially some of the smaller birds, and bees and other insects are so important especially now. Not everybody has the time or opportunity to have a garden but here you can have a tiny garden that can give immeasurable pleasure .I feel very blessed having this slice of heaven.
My garden consists of native and non-native sun loving plants (some from the living connections project) They provide colour, texture food and shelter for a myriad of birds and insects and include bottle brush and grevilleas, bracysome , everlasting daisies, eremophilas , native rosemary as well as non-natives: sage, bettony , ostepernum, agave, lavender, salvia, geranium and others.