The Castle Plant

Growing up in the suburbs of Sydney, next door in 'Sunningdale' lived two elderly spinsters. Dorothy, well into her 80's was a retired English teacher of note, well loved by her former pupils, as, each Christmas, an avalanche of cards from former pupils, from all corners of the globe would spill out the letterbox.

We used to go for garden walks, and she would tell me stories of all the plants and flowers. This was the plant that grew amongst the stones of the castles in England and, to a child growing up in a country where there were no castles, this plant seemed a wildly romantic miracle, transplanted from another world into the garden next door. It was in this garden that my love of plants began.

To Dorothy, a remarkable woman who took the time to show a child something wonderful.

Here is, the castle plant.