Retired Vocational Training Development Institute lecturer Linda Douglas welcomed SO Gardening to her 41-year-old garden space in St Catherine. Douglas started her garden from scratch and seeing the small patch of land she had to work with, she removed the larger trees — coconut, ackee, apple and East Indian mango trees — to facilitate a renovation.

Douglas shared how much peace and good health her garden gives her although it is work-intensive. The serene garden has a fair amount of roses and orchids to make the space visually appealing, especially in bloom, and tall naseberry and raspberry trees for shade over areas of the garden.

Some local garden favourites like small cactuses, crown-of-thorns, and ixora (also known as the West Indian jasmine) were spotted in the garden as well. Douglas’s note about the ixora is that it blossoms all year round and the petals fall very often, so if a garden owner is not ready for that kind of commitment, this should be considered. Douglas also has a history of planting ferns, gladioli and gerberas.

Douglas’s husband Everald said the red-billed streamertail, also known as the doctor bird, the country’s national bird, frequents Linda’s garden in the mornings. There were also three bird nests in an avocado tree that had to be cut down in preparation of the recent passage of Hurricane Beryl. Everald must have beckoned them because immediately after his anecdote, we could spot at least three doctor birds keeping our company!

Despite the fact that Douglas’s list of must-haves to add to her garden is empty, she gave a back story on one of her plants unfortunately not in bloom: the hydrangea.

“In the 1980s, I went to London on the Commonwealth of Nations Teachers’ Exchange Programme [and] was fascinated by their gardens at summertime. Among my chief admiration was the hydrangea plant,” she said.

The retiree spends most of her day in the garden and to adjust her watering system based on the season and plants’ needs, Douglas doesn’t manually water during rainfall but during the dry times, Douglas waters her plants in the cooler hours of the day. Her yellow orchid is a personal favourite that is about four years old, which she sprays about three times a day during the brutal summer heat.

Maintaining a small garden is no easy task and Douglas recommends limiting very big trees. Regardless of land size, properly prepare it for gardening as best as possible, create an outline to effectively utilise the space, and use flower pots to start with younger plants. Gardening is ongoing, she advises, so work at it to see results and add plants that reflect the desired look and feel.