Let Love Bloom

The best love letter is planted

This week we planted the Golden Garden.

As I have written before, this is the little patch of garden just outside my bedroom. It is the place my dogs would race through first thing in the morning to pee, and the bit of garden I can see from the shower when the day, and my head, are still fresh. My plan was always to bury my dogs there when they passed, and to build a Golden Garden for them, because they are Golden Cocker Spaniels. As you may know, last week that terrible day arrived when my beloved dog, Freeway, passed.

This is the strange thing about grief: it makes you both useless and extremely practical. You cannot think, but you can dig. You cannot return text messages, but you can research plants. So that is what I have been doing. We planted sixteen Golden Wattle trees, one for every year of Freeway’s life, and I placed some of his ashes beneath each one. His body was warm and alive and constantly beside me for sixteen years. He followed me from room to room as if I were the most interesting person on earth. He slept near me, watched me, nagged me, forgave me, and celebrated me every time I returned home. So I needed something generous to honor his generous love.

The Golden Wattle, Acacia pycnantha, is Australia’s national floral emblem. In flower, it carries the national colors: green and gold. It is said to embody the Australian spirit: tough, hardworking, and generous.