Finding Miss Wilmott

During this summer, I have snapped the garden at various times, but haven't done much with the new camera. Today, I got down among the flowers, and to my delight, spotted a plant which I thought had long ago gone to plant heaven - Potentilla nepalensis Miss Wilmott. She's the red one, by the way.

Why do I remember her full name? Ah - memories....

The year 2000 saw my friends Bob, Diana, Iseabail and myself walking the West Highland Way. Our first overnight stop was in Drymen, and the B&B place had a lovely, albeit quite new-looking, corner garden. The garden was at the corner of a junction of 3 roads, as I remember. I admired this wee plant, and took a note of its name. The lady owner explained that she had had to replant the whole garden, as a month before a big lorry had lost control at the corner, and ploughed into her garden, taking all her mature plants and shrubs with it. She hated the fact that the garden looked so new.

I managed to find the plant somewhere in my travels, and planted it in my new garden.

When I spotted Miss Wilmott today, I also recalled what my late, dear old friend Miss Ivy Wylie said about her garden: "My dear, my garden is a garden of memories. I can't remember the names of the plants, but I remember who gave them to me, or where I found them."

She was right; lots of memories because of this wee beauty.