Susannah, Not Gardening in London
Succinctly, what do you do with your time in real life?
I walk.. I like walking, cooking, yoga and deciding where to run away to in various parts of the world….
And your digital self?
Very low key - I have Instagram, but mainly for stalking house designs…and (terribly) celebrities who I don’t really care about that much, but I enjoy seeing what they wear. And I have Facebook but I deleted it a few years ago, and then created a new profile, so I only have about 200 friends, which makes me happy because I hate being updated about peoples lives who I don’t know anymore. And that’s it, that’s my social presence.
What do plants means to you?
Plants are very very important to me. I get very annoyed when people don’t like the UK because I think the plants make the UK, and if you don’t like the UK you are basically saying you don’t like plants and I think that’s just ridiculous. We have an excellent climate, we should appreciate it, and get on board with it. But yeah, plants are very, very important to me.
Are you growing anything?
I grew some hyacinths from Asda on my windowsill in London, which smelled lovely. I have very very limited outdoor space, and my neighbours have just cut down the rosemary bush we had in the patch, and they also savaged a bay tree around my house…. but apart from that, just the hyacinth at the moment.
Do you dream of growing anything?
Yes! I really want an orchard, hence why I persuaded my mother to plant some apple trees in the garden, which she did, very kind of her! She keeps telling me to weed them occasionally and water them…I think my own orchard would be my Number 1.
Along with a lovely garden with lots and lots of plants in it. Maybe some endemic plants, an endemic garden in Georgia actually….I’d like that, a mountain garden.
Where do you buy plants?
Asda, apparently! I don’t buy plants very often - I buy the occasional flowers from the supermarket when they are reduced, because I don’t think you should buy full price flowers… but if I earned more, I probably would think about this more, what I would actually do - plants are expensive! In my day-to-day - they are not my priority.
Pick a plant
Sequoiadendron giganteum because how could you not like them (and also I like saying the name because I know it!). I can think of some particular spots, such as at High Beeches Garden my favourite spot is within the Sequoiadendrons. Very peaceful.
Pick a garden
I would say High Beeches Garden in Sussex is a particularly lovely garden, and also Tresco Abbey Garden is particularly fond within my heart, somewhere I had a very good time when I was younger.
Are there any plants you like to cook with?
Yes! Very much so - Oregano! So oregano can be a horrific pizza topping, or if you actually get it fresh from somewhere in the middle east, it is delicious and will brighten up pretty much any meal. And when I was in Lebanon one time, made a particularly delicious combination of just fresh tomato, with a cheese like halloumi, with oregano, bit of lemon, fry it all together…it was pretty…pretty bloody good!
