Jon’s garden, cats and tea

When I told our friend Jon about the gorgeous virginia creeper cloaking a shed at the allotment he offered to give me a cutting from his garden to get me started on my shed’s covering.  I couldn’t resist taking photos of his gorgeous plants, trees and feline friends when I popped round to collect my potted cutting.  That was a couple of weeks ago when the autumn shades of red and yellow leaves were at their most vibrant.  I suspect Jon’s virginia creeper has dropped all it’s leaves now….. that the ivy is still climbing…that these leaves are no longer red…that the water snails have had their fill of apple…that Jon has made some tasty dish using his home grown thyme……and that his cat Greenhouse is still refusing to give any ground to the stray cat that has adopted Jon’s garden bench as her new home.  Jon’s offer of tea turned into a rummage in the cupboard when I asked for something herbal or fruity.   We cracked open Jon’s vintage tea boxes from his travels several years ago and we sampled some surprisingly palletable coffee coloured passion fruit tea.  We then moved on to 10 year old Egyptian hibiscus leaves authentically served with a dash of honey – the colour of a fine red wine and totally delicious.Jon’s family moved to his house when he was 8 years old and this plant was transferred from his grandmother’s garden soon after.  It’s over 80 years old.  How amazing is that?  Pretty cool I’d say and I’d love to be able to recall key moments of my life through the changing landscape of my back garden.  Jon’s inspired me to consider growing bamboo at the allotment.  He has an amazing bamboo plant that’s over 10 feet tall.  No photo unfortunately as the bamboo provides shade for the garden bench and you may recall what feline distractions are to be found under there!