'Shows Of Hands' - Here's Waving At You!

Mother's father had a touch with horses ; she had the same with flowers. She could grow them anywhere, at any time and they seemed to live longer for her. She grew them with rough, almost slap-dash love, but here hands possessed such an understanding of their needs that they seemed to turn to her like another sun. She could snatch a dry root from a field or hedgerow, dab it into the garden, give it a shake - and almost immediately it flowered. One felt she could grow roses from a stick or chair -leg, so remarkable was this gift' 

- an extract from 'Cider with Rosie' by Laurie Lee.

It sounds as if Laurie's mother had what we call 'green fingers'. Talking of fingers leads to hands which are certainly 'the tool most precious to a gardener', as Michelle at Veg Plotting writes in her invitation to bloggers to hilight hands and join in her Chelsea Fringe project for 2014.

I must admit that I look down at my hands sometimes and think that they do not belong to me. Am I slowly turning into an alien? No but my hands reflect that I'm getting older more than any other part of me. Well the grey hair can be covered with 'Black Cherry' but the hands are harder to disguise. They are becoming increasingly chicken wrinkled and at this time of year seem to be permanently scratched and dirt engrained. I hear my mother's voice in my ear urging me to wear gloves and use hand cream and reflect that they would probably look better if I had heeded her advice. However regardless of appearance they have served me well over some thirty years or so of gardening. I wonder just how many seeds they have sown, how many cuttings they've taken, how many plants they've planted and just how many weeds they have pulled out. When I think of this I'm not surprised that they look past their sell by date. However I'm eternally grateful for their service.

Unfortunately my hands also suffer from various allergic reactions (even more reason to listen to mum) and are not a pretty sight at the moment. So no photo of my paws today but one that some of you maybe familiar with if you are already a regular visitor here. It's perfect for saying hello to you and to say thank you for visiting. The photo is of my blog atavar and was taken at Sudeley Castle, in Gloucestershire in 2008. The gardens were home to an exhibition of sculpture including a gigantic hand. You can see and read about some of the other exhibits here.

The 'Chelsea Fringe' is now entering its last few days. If you are fortunate enough to live in or near London, Bath, Brighton, Bristol or Kent there are some great events going on this week. If you are further afield you can still participate in Michelle's project over at Veg Plotting until the 8th June. What a great idea for bloggers from all corner of the globe to join hands together in celebration of our love of plants and gardens and be part of this special event. You've got to hand it to Michelle for coming up with such a brilliant idea after last year's magnificent 'Blogger's Cut' cake extravaganza. I'm still recovering after eating my way through this work of art. I'm now wondering what's in store for 2015!