Faced with a barren, goat-ravaged Greek hillside, amateur botanist and British expatriate Mary Jaqueline Tyrwhitt decided something needed to be done. And she did it, using both native and imported plants to create a thriving garden.
Her account of the life of her garden and how it intersects with traditional Greek country life through the months of the year is enchanting.
"I am just back from the first day of the Yannkou family's trigos or grape harvest and this is probably as good a day as any to begin to describe the garden year in Greece..." the book opens. With Tyrwhitt's keen eye for detail, infused with a never-failing joy in plants, Greece, and the people who tie them together, it is true that any day is a good day.
Not that Tyrwhitt is a saint. She proves herself capable of veering off the straight and narrow garden path when a shipment of imported roses faces impounding by the Greek authorities and she has to employ some artful strategy to save a rosebush endangered by government bureaucracy.
The section on "Horta" which closes the book describes what native plants go into the popular Greek salad. If you've yearned for the taste of true horta at home, you may not have far to look for the ingredients, many of which, such as the Malva silvestris grow wild in many places around the world.
Two decades after Tyrwhitt's passing, her garden on the slopes of Mount Hymettus in Attica still thrives under the watchful eye of the Mediterranean Garden Society, and can be visited by prior arrangement through the society. Called "Sparoza" or "Hill of the Sparrows", the garden is open to private individuals only; they have no desire to become a tour bus stop.
The Mediterranean Garden Society in Greece offers many garden- and plant-related events for members throughout the year. Check their Events Page for details.
The Sparoza Garden will be open to Mediterranean Garden Society members on March 20th, 2004 from 10:30am to 2:30pm for a plant, seed, and information exchange. Admission is three Euro; refreshments will be served. More information can be obtained by emailing Barbara at bd@hol.gr.
"Making A Garden on a Greek Hillside" can be ordered from Denise Harvey, Publisher, Katounia, 340 05 Limni, Evia, Greece. Tel. +30 222 7031154. Email: denise@teledomenet.gr.
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