La Passione ! (A Roman Terrace Garden)

Take one reasonably nice but uninspired Roman terrace, with ten years of accumulated, cluttered pots and four untended olive trees.

Add plants – principally geraniums and pelargoniums – from the annual Landriana garden fair.

Add Piero, his son Giampiero and his crew of gardener magicians.

La Passione !  La Fantasia !  La volonta’ di far qualcosa di emozionante ! 

Add the enthusiasm of two small children.

And arcadia emerges.

There are so many stories to tell : of a gardener who on our first day of work found a tiny self seeded fig tree among the jasmines, spent 20 minutes digging it out, and then re-planted it.

Of Piero who throws his hands into any herb plant he passes — most particuarly lemon verbena — and draws the fragrance vigorously to his face, exclaiming “che meraviglia !”

Piero is a great supporter of organic gardening and suggested the inclusion of many flowering plants that would encourage more butterflies and bees to visit our Rome Terrace Garden. Over the course of the week he would bring a small selection of plants — ideas that he had as he watched the garden evolve —  for our consideration. Of course we wanted everything he proposed. Piero understood and loved the Terrace Garden just as much as we did.

Graham Thomas Climbing Rose