It is hard to believe that SeeHow is approaching its third birthday and that this text is SeeHow’s 40th Blog – two great milestones! I’m proud to say that during those first 3 years we have had buyers from as far afield as Japan and South Korea, the USA and many EU countries too, particularly Italy and Germany. However, the bulk of sales have been within the UK – we are a nation of gardener lovers after all.

We have even had an enquiry from Australia for a southern hemisphere version. But actually, the existing version can easily be used for planning gardens south of the Equator – here’s how. Users of SeeHow will know that the plant illustrations are drawn across a 12 month calendar grid. While the months are not identified, the illustrations all logically start with the month of January to the left side, running through to December at the right side … so in terms of seasons – 2 months of winter, then spring, summer, autumn and the first month of winter once again. Every copy of SeeHow comes with a two-sided ‘calendar-ruler’, which can be laid across an illustration as an aide to easily identifying the months, starting with ‘J’ for January, ‘F’ for February and so on to ‘D’ for December. This is based on the northern hemisphere growing cycle. To convert the illustrations for the southern hemisphere, simply adjust the months shown on one side of the ‘calendar Ruler’ with a pencil, moving the monthly letters by 6 months … et voilà, you will be able to use SeeHow ‘down under’. I’m looking forward to hearing from buyers from the southern hemisphere.

SeeHow illustrations being arranged in the potting shed

There have been many SeeHow highlights over the first 3 years. Probably the biggest ones have been taking SeeHow to some of the well-known national flower shows. We had stands at the BBC Gardeners World show at the NEC and the BBC Autumn Show at Audley End and also at the Southport Flower Show – one of the biggest in the country. Each show had its own unique atmosphere and they all allowed us to meet other people in the horticultural business. Perhaps even more importantly, the shows meant we were able to meet our buyers face-to-face, to discuss SeeHow – how it works and SeeHow options for the future. This feedback has been invaluable. As a result, I hope we will be extending the SeeHow range in 2024.

SeeHow’s Stand at Audley Autumn Fair set in the wonderful gardens design by ‘Capability’ Brown

The creation of SeeHow was a huge challenge. Every plant included in Volume 1 (and many more that did not make the first cut) had to be researched and photographed throughout the calendar year to ensure the accuracy of the illustrations. This involved visiting many gardens and nurseries throughout the whole of the UK, some many times over several of years, such as Kew Gardens and the RHS gardens. In addition I have visited numerous other gardens up and down the land, some well-known and others more obscure, including a number of private gardens that were part of the National Gardening Scheme or holding a national collection. But as plants are a passion, I can’t describe this as work! What better way to spend a day than wandering through a garden taking photos of plants and garden designs and the butterflies, bees and other insects found there too.

*Painted Lady* butterfly settled on top of *Verbena bonariensis*

In my own very small courtyard garden, I have room just for a few plants, mainly planted in small numbers just to see the form they take as they grow, except where they self-seed like poppies and marigolds, ending up popping up everywhere! Visiting larger gardens allows the visitor to see and appreciate plants and flowers often grown in great drifts, impossible for most people at home. It also occasionally allows the visitor to see the work of well known designers outside the world of Flower Shows. For instance, Chris Beardshaw designed 2 large flowerbeds at Pitmedden Castle, not far from my home in Aberdeenshire. Probably my favourite Scottish garden is Cambo, in Fife. I’ve visited it more times than I can count, in every season of the year. It has a unique sense of repose and well-being, that I have rarely come across elsewhere. From a personal perspective it is great to see so many plants illustrated in SeeHow, that are happily growing at Cambo.

Cambo’s unusual Walled Garden, bisected by the Cambo Burn

Although nature often appears to be visually random – even chaotic – nothing could be further from the truth. It all depends on the distance between the viewer and whatever is being viewed. A countryside panorama can often be distilled down to simple colourful geometric shapes arranged in interesting ways. But for me, there is nothing more exciting than peering into the world of plants, with multiple geometries overlaid. Although each plant was individually planted by a gardener, if allowed, they will grow and evolve into their own magical world. I touched on this in a past blog ‘Disorder and Order’ and discovering this intangible quality is probably still the most thrilling aspect of gardening for me. There is an invisible force that pulls ‘order’ out of chaos and I often find myself drawn by it too.

We all know that gardening is good for us – good physically and good for the mind – some would even say, ‘the soul’. With that thought, if I can be allowed to make a plea - encourage children out into the garden if they have access to one – to plant flowers, fruit and veg and, for teachers to do the same, getting children of all ages into the school gardens.

And if you don’t have a garden or balcony, do what I do … visit as many public gardens as possible. Our future depends on improving our relationship with the Earth and I hope SeeHow can be a small part of this process.

Happy Xmas, from SeeHow

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The above Text and all Photographs are copyright of Wincenty (Wicek) Sosna. Please contact SeeHow for permission to reproduce in any way, in part or as the complete text.

SeeHow’s Third Birthday and 40th Blog

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What did the Romans ever do for us!