Friday Ramble - Lupins and Early Light

I never walk past a stand of lupins without thinking of the Monty Python's Flying Circus sketch in which a bumbling highwayman named Dennis Moore (played by John Cleese) steals lupins from the rich and tries to give them to the local peasantry. Alas, Moore's efforts are met with derision by those he is trying to help, and they demand other things like Titian paintings, Venetian silver and art glass.

This morning's lupins live in the abandoned garden behind a small brick bungalow in the village. The elderly woman who lived in the little house had a wonderful garden surrounded by fences and high hedgerows, and it could not be seen from the street. 

Sadie's enclosure reminded me of the secret garden in Frances Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden. There were fruit trees, blackberries and hawthorns, antique lupins in blue, purple, pink and cream, daisies, coneflowers, cornflowers, old roses, phlox, peonies and specimen hostas. The place was full of rabbits, songbirds and bumbles in summer, and it was an oasis of serenity. I loved spending time there.

Some time ago, my friend moved into an assisted living community, and her dear little brick house was listed for sale, its enchanted garden bulldozed in an orgy of destruction. She has now passed away, and her fabulous creation is a thing of the past. A developer is about to start building town houses on the property, and no trees, gardens and green spaces will remain - in a short time, there will be nary a hint that a magical space once existed in a quiet corner of the village. Several lupins remain, and I plan to visit in the next few days and gather the seed from them.

I feel a little blue when I remember Sadie, and sowing her lupins will be my way of honoring her memory and her beautiful garden. What is remembered lives.