The battle against ageing

The gaudy Canna leaf but they are not as bad as the flowers.

It has come to my attention recently that I am getting older and frankly, I don’t like it. I was therefore interested in the theory that the way to keep ageing at bay is to constantly disrupt the patterns of your life. Don’t get into a rut, change the routines. As Einstein apparently said – ageing is like riding a bike, if you stop going forwards you fall off. I am rather keen on my routines and I have read PG Wodehouse almost constantly for two years. However, I have decided that I clearly need some disruption. I’m not going to listen to radio 2 anymore as they only play the music I used to listen to when it was on radio 1. No more Wodehouse except for one on my birthday. I also thought I could do with some changes in the garden. I have been gardening in the same way for years. My husband would say, actually you have been ‘not gardening’ in the same way for years. In light of this failure of mine I was going to do ten minutes of gardening each day as a disruptor. That would be manageable I thought and it would be an interesting exercise to see how much you could get done in that time. However, most of January has gone and I haven’t even been out in the garden. It’s cold and wet. There will be mildewy plants and cat poo and very little else, I don’t need to leave the safety of the kitchen to know that. The next option is to create a different palate of plants. I have planted the same plants for years. I like them, why wouldn’t I plant them time and again. Erigeron karvinsianus, Rosa Ballerina and Anthemis EC Buxton have been my constant, beautiful, stalwart companions. In the interests of greater mental flexibility I am going to plant all those things I wouldn’t usually consider. The list as it stands is …. Cannas. It’s not easy so I’m taking it one step, one plant at a time.