There is plum pie growing in my garden! It's deep purple and tantalisingly fragrant. When I am near, the notes of a sweet vanilla reach me and memories of long-ago kitchens spring forth in my mind.
The tiny purple and white blooms of fragrant Heliotrope.
When I close my eyes and breathe in the delicious perfume of Heliotrope, or Plum Pie as I know it, I am transported back to days where crisp vanilla biscuits were baked and spread out to cool on wire racks in both my mother's and grandmother's kitchens. I seem to remember a small hand reaching for those biscuits too!
Heliotrope is an old-fashioned cottage garden favourite that grows well in my garden, just out from under the edge of our rotunda in deep, free-draining soil. I moved it there a while ago now after it protested about being in too shady a spot. It seems very content in its new position near our young avocado tree. (I think it likes being on the edge of the regular watering our pampered avocado gets!) A light prune to remove the spent flower clusters has helped to encourage thicker growth and new blooms. Blooms that bees and butterflies love!
I hope, if you dream of a cottagey garden, that you will have room for some Plum Pie. I often snip off clusters of its blooms just so I can breathe in my memories. Perhaps, if you plant it, its scent will bring you memories too.
Meg
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