Daily details from the garden to bring you inspiration throughout the year
The flowers on a fatsia (false castor oil plant, Fatsia japonica) were not something I’d considered – they were just those reliable, shiny leaved shrubs at the Villiers Street entrance to the Embankment Gardens. I still remember my surprise when the geometric growths appeared – 3D molecular models, or some branching modernist sculpture, all rods and starbursts – almost indecently white against the dark leaves. And so late in the year. Later I would see the similarity, in shape at least, between these and the blooms on common ivy, but by then I’d know they shared a common heritage as fellow members of the plant family Araliaceae. I can pretend to take this all for granted now, but in truth, the appearance of these slightly eerie structures each autumn still has the power to startle me.
Garden coaching with Andrew O’Brien
Just to let you know, I’ll shortly be opening up a few spaces for one-to-one online garden coaching. The final details are still being tweaked, but if this sounds like something you’d be interested in, let me know on this page so I can tell you as soon as booking opens.
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Hello! I’m Andrew, gardener, blogger, podcaster, and owner of a too-loud laugh, and I’m so pleased you’ve found your way to Gardens, weeds & words. You can read a more in-depth profile of me on the About page, or by clicking the image above.
