CP and I were standing on the patio a couple of days after we closed on the property and we described what we saw.
The hardwood trees were the feature of note.The topography was nondescript – a bit of a slope – perhaps 4 feet from high to low. A finished house to our left, a wooded lot to the right. A glimpse of neighboring houses through the trees. We agreed it was a blank canvas, a nice lot but one without any real character – no personality. We also agreed that it was down to us to make something of it.
A good friend of ours gave his garden ( not the house) a name. He wanted it to have an identity of its own – wanted to personalize the relationship between himself and his garden. The gardening community recognizes the garden by name.
We thought that if we gave our garden a name it would cement our commitment to create something different, make the best from what we had. As we were starting from scratch it would be ours….. down to us.
Early suggestions were just naff because they had no sense of meaning, were made up words or gardening cliches.Then we thought about the two most influential gardeners in our lives – Andy and Allen – our fathers. Hence not only was “AndAllen” the name but the sense of purpose had escalated many fold.
AndAllenGarden 