My London Garden

摘要

Each year when dusty August has passed and the Cjclamen; hederifolium begin to appear in early autumn, I remind myself that the garden might be a source of delight after all. On the sill outside the kitchen window is a collection of small clay pots containing rare cyclamen too precious or tender to be let out into the open. They need to be looked at closely, both the flowers and the leaves that range in colour, shape and pattern from very dark green plain and shiny to pale almost turquoise, with softgrey markings. They came from the specialist cyclamen nursery Tile Barn, in Kent. There, tucked away behind a house in a country lane, are several greenhouses containing tightly packed rows of three-inch pots on benches at about elbow height. The catalogue is a closely printed list of at least a hundred species from which one can order by mail, but a visit to the nursery is an experience to relish, not least for the delicate scent of the various cyclamen in bloom at any time of the year. The latest catalogue has just arrived and a date made foianother visit is in the diary.