A natural inheritance
Most gardeners have, at one time or another, become horticultural beneficiaries through the gifting of plants from one generation to the next. But it wasn’t until recently that I contemplated the notion of inheriting an actual garden and all that this might entail: the good fortune, obviously, but also the weight of history and expectation, the sense of responsibility.
The son of a friend of mine recently inherited his 94-year-old next-door neighbour’s garden. When he was a mere toddler, Henry – currently 18 – struck up an unlikely friendship with the grown-up George. They bonded, initially, over grass cutting (George stripped the engine out of an old mower and gave it to the four-year-old to ‘play with’). This was followed
