Rich

I woke up with a flower on my chest- the sweet frangipani smell was enough to force a smile even through my hung-over daze.

We are rich in frangipanis (me and anyone who visits my house). The immense old trees in the back have been raining down yellow and white flowers since November. Every plant in the yard looks half-frangipani with flowers caught on leaves, between branches, speared onto cactus spikes. Yesterday at an unwary moment I nearly skidded on frangipani-flower-sludge (hidden beneath a carpet of fresh, lovely ones) and wouldn't that have been something, "cause of death: frangipani overdose"?

I spent all day yesterday gardening in the rain, trying to consolidate some of the plant losses from while I was travelling (the porch garden is pretty much gone) and transplanting some other plants into pots ready for an imminent shift of house (I'm moving in about a month, have I mentioned?). A lot of walking from bed to bed pondering what I'll be taking with me and what I could possibly leave behind (an idea riddled with anxiety- what if the house is vacant for awhile after we leave and there's no-one to take care of the plants? What if the real estate sneer at the beauty of growing things and tear them all up? What if the next tenants aren't gardeners, not even slightly, and refuse to enjoy any of my work?). Ah, rental gardening. The forced distance is probably healthy.

While I lost a lot of plants when I went away there were some stunning successes. The marigolds have exploded into vivid colour, the eggplant is dripping with long purple fruit, new tomato plants that were barely flowering when I left have full-size fruit on them now (though who knows if they will even ripen before I leave). Despite attempting to throw itself into flower every time I look away my basil forest is huge, lush, green and purple and deeply satisfying. In all the optimism of a fresh start I'm sowing new seeds for summer crops, hoping that the trade-off for this mild, wet summer is that winter won't kick in til later. Two sweet bois gave me a collection of heirloom seeds for my birthday and I'm delighted by the possibilities.