Thursday, August 29, 2013

Kindness Through Ginkgos

Just a few days after the fire in our garden, imagine my astonishment when one of the builders summoned me from upstairs telling me that there is a delivery of plants waiting for me downstairs. 


A delivery of plants? But I've never ordered any plants from anywhere recently, nor have I pre ordered anything that could possibly arrive at any random time. And besides, with the fire happening so soon and with mess still everywhere then, the last thing I was in the mood for was to buy more plants. There must be a mistake somewhere there. Perhaps the delivery was meant for one of our neighbours and the delivery guy was just mistakenly pointed to go to ours (on the assumption that if it's a plant delivery it must be ours as we're quite well known in our neighbourhood as a plant mad duo!).

Or perhaps it's just a small item or plant, a cutting or seedling sent to us randomly by one of our gardening friends? But no it wasn't...

As I went downstairs what greeted me was a large white delivery van parked in front of the house and the delivery guy immediately read out my name and said there were five large boxes of plants for me to accept and sign for.


Five large boxes?? But I haven't bought any plants from anywhere, let alone have five large boxes of plants arrive on our doorstep!

The boxes were all tall and sealed, what could be inside and where did they come from? The identity of the sender was nowhere to be found on the consignment which added to the mystery of it all but the sender had arranged the delivery with Big Plant Nursery in Sussex from which all of the plants came from.


To say I was speechless then and pleasantly shocked would have been an understatement...

But whoever sent these plants had a wonderful sense of humour that made me grin from ear to ear for the rest of that day (and whenever I remember it!).


As I opened the boxes it became apparent I was sent a large collection of Ginkgo biloba, with nearly every variety/cultivar that Big Plant Nursery carries represented in the box. And apparently some of them are not even listed as available yet on their website but they were happy enough to include them as the delivery was arranged.

The person who sent these lovely and stunning plants twigged that we like our Ginkgo bilobas based on previous and regular features about it on our blog, and thought that by sending us a collection of them would give us some extra cheer. And besides we do need some more plants to replace the ones that perished in the fire.

And cheer did they certainly bring! They're all gorgeous and we've found ourselves having an instant Ginkgo biloba collection!

G. biloba 'Horizontalis'
G. biloba 'Horizontalis'
G. biloba 'Tremonia'
G. biloba 'Mayfield'
G. biloba 'Jade Butterflies'
G. biloba 'Saratoga'
G. biloba 'Beijing Gold' (variegated Ginkgos exhibit different degrees of variegation from one season to another)
G. biloba 'Gruga'
G. biloba 'Pixie'
G. biloba 'Pixie'
G. biloba 'Weeping Wonder'
G. biloba 'Weeping Wonder'
G. biloba 'Tubifolia'
G. biloba 'Tubifolia'
G. biloba 'Fastigiata'
G. biloba 'Fastigiata'
G. biloba 'Pendula'
G. biloba 'Variegata'
G. biloba 'Chi Chi'
A beautiful lot aren't they? Such a fabulous group of plants and with this instant collection that arrived on our doorstep I am even more inspired to continue collecting them. It is true that in time, lots of time that is, they can grow into gigantic trees but most of them are very slow growing which will work in favour for me. We have found permanent homes in the ground for several of them already including prominent spots in areas that will be receiving a makeover.

The power of blogging and the kindness of friends never ceases to amaze us. You know who you are...

Thank you for such a wonderful, heart warming gesture!

Mark :-)

24 comments :

  1. What a lovely and timely gift delivered with a sense of humor no less! Your anonymous friend must know you well to deliver an instant collection for you to tend to and help keep your mind off the disruption around you.

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  2. What a lovely and generous gift, I wish I had thought of it and had the pennies to spare! Happy planting

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  3. What a truly tremendous thing to do - talk about random acts of kindness! Wonderful!

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  4. This warms my heart, too. Proof that gardeners and plant lovers are the best.

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  5. I have to echo Gerhard's statements. This is surely a sign that your garden's going to come back better than ever!

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  6. You and your anonymous friend have made my day! What a happy light hearted moment they created for you both!

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  7. Incredible! I am so happy for you! People are truly wonderful! Whoever did it has a big heart!

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  8. Awesome! Such a lovely gift and great story! Garden on. Jeannine

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  9. What a fabulous thing to happen - good karma to both you and your mysterious donor :)

    I've seen similar stories of good things happening gardening-wise over the past few weeks and it's great to see human kindness still exists by the bucketload :)

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  10. Fantastic, some people are so generous. Made me smile reading this.

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  11. How wonderful! I think 'Saratoga' would be my favorite.

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  12. What a thoughtful gesture :) I'm sure that your mystery donor must have had as much pleasure in giving as you have had in receiving.

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  13. Very kind and caring gesture! Gardeners are the best!

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  14. What a kind and caring gesture! And what a wonderful collection! Someone out there knows what is in your heart. It won't be too long before your garden is better than ever.

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  15. Hi Mark and Gaz, so sorry to read that you had a fire in your garden! That must have been very devastating! What an amazingly kind gesture to sent you all those lovely ginkgos, though. I am happy for you that you have friends like that! I can't wait to see where the ginkgos will be planted permanently in your garden.
    Christina

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  16. I just love how gardeners lift each other up. What an amazing gift!

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  17. What a wonderful surprise! Whoever sent that was so sweet, I hope you find out their identity eventually. I had no idea there were so many types of ginkos! Now every time you look out at your garden, you will be cheered by this very thoughtful gift.

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  18. Such a lovely thing to do. They will take great pleasure from reading your post as they see they didn't just give you a few plants they passed on real joy which you then shared with us ;)

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  19. What a fantastic gift. Maybe this world of ours isn't such a bad place after all. I admit to being a teasy bit jealous as I spent an hour at the Hptn Ct flower show trying to decide which one of these to buy, and you have them all in one go! Great to see your garden is on the road to recovery.

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  20. How amazing and wonderful. I shall smile too when I remember it.

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  21. Now that is a wonderful surpise! It is great that they lifted your spirits and the sign was an amusing touch.

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  22. Wow! you guys are lucky to have some generous senders :-). Just thought of letting you know that whenever you come to NYC, try to visit Longwood garden in Philadelphia (close to it) -- it worth a visit. I wrote a little about it in my blog post today.

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  23. What a beautiful and heartwarming post and surprise for you both! Isn't it nice to know that there are wonderful people out there so generous and want no thanks? My faith in people has been raised many notches.

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  24. What a very kind generous gesture. I had a minor fire in one small corner of my garden which destroyed two dandelions. I do hope I will receive a lorry load of goodies within the next few days. :-)

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