Some decades ago, my folks were planning their garden; a friend of the family who happened to be an old gardener recommended two things: a mahonia bush and a snake-bark maple. The latter is gone but the mahonia remains, decades on.
Everywhere I consider home has had at least one mahonia – it’s a measure of garden completeness. Today I planted one in the back mud-patch and thought of Tom of old.
Neighbours from Argyll days once recommended an Osmanthus. Today I planted one and thought of them.
The willow tree came directly from friends in Argyll as well and was planted a few months ago. (I’m not convinced it’s thriving, however!)
It wouldn’t be the first place I’ve lived to have had hebes in the borders either.
So. That’s the heart of a gardener, is other people remembered.