Pelargoniums?

As mentioned before, I am a novice gardener. I do enjoy gardens though and hope to one day have ours 'just right' (does that ever happen?). Here is the plant at the front of our cottage and I don't know the correct term. I had always been familiar with (and love) 'geraniums' along with hydrangeas and nastursiums, carnations and pansies as my dear grandmother grew them in her garden. In recent times the name 'pelargonium' has become familiar especially as my darling (descended as he is from the 'green thumb' line) had a great grandfather who cultivated a nursery at Kew specializing in pelargoniums. I'm sure my lovely mother-in-law, who kindly reads my entries here, will be able to tell at a glance whether we have a pelargonium or a geranium growing at the front of the cottage.

My darling does 'prune' quite drastically (to put it mildly) but look at the gorgeous colour as a result! During school and university holidays our charming son works for an arborist and it is he who prunes any trees requiring it. He (in apparent contrast to my darling) carefully considers each branch before removing the appropriate ones leaving the trees still shapely but less dense. Maybe he is the 'green thumb' of the next generation.

The nurseries and market gardens of Kew have long since been replaced by housing. Our own suburb too was once orchards and market gardens - the only remnant being an area of parkland which now replaces a drive-in (which was established on one of the orchards). Small tasteful signs and sculptures record the history of the site and its uses from aboriginal times onwards. There are still allotments and we enjoy cycling or walking through the area observing what is growing.

Even though it has been 50 years since the suburb was established, I believe we have a responsibility to make wise decisions regarding the use of the land. Consequently when a sign was recently erected stating the intention of building not only a two storey dwelling but a three storey structure as well on one standard block of ground, I wrote to the council voicing my opposition. Now this was a first for me. My darling thinks I have become 'all political' now that I have participated in the "Walk against Warming" and opposed what I believe is inappropriate development ... maybe, but it has been a long time since I was last voicing my concerns as I wore a "BAN URANIUM MINING" badge in the late 1970's.

The council rejected the building application - hooray - but the architect appealed and it was sent to tribunal. As one who opposed (there were 28 people who wrote - probably a record for our suburb) I was notified and invited to speak at the tribunal. The hearing was held in the city last Friday and I, naively, thought I would be home by lunch time. A representative of the council put forward the council's reasons for rejecting the proposal, and we, the residents who opposed, spoke in turn, then the architect's advocate, an urban planning professional, put forward the architect and developer's (irresponsible in my opinion) proposal.

It was quite nerve-wracking. I nervously spoke of how our built environment effects our well-being, quoting from Alain de Botton's book "The Architecture of Happiness". I finished, as he did, by saying 'We must strive to build in a manner worthy of the meadows and woods we are destroying' in our case, the farmland and market gardens of fifty years ago. (Note - I am certainly not opposed to medium density housing as it is preferable to sprawling outer suburbs that consume more farmland but there is no other three storey building in the suburb, the predominant architecture of the area is 1950's single storey bungalows, and the site in question is quite dominant at the crest of a hill). As I only cycle and walk along the street, not live in it, in the eyes of the architect and 'Judge Judy' I felt my views were of little consequence.

I was glad to be able to give a little support to the actual neighbours in their opposition, many of them elderly, long-term residents (who even with hearing aids had difficulty). I arrived home at 6.30 pm - we had a 30 minute break for lunch - exhausted. 'Judge Judy' is planning on doing a site inspection and will inform us of her decision in the coming weeks.

I did learn a lot about the procedures involved and now realize that inappropriate development is not always the council's fault for, as in this case, it is taken out of their hands. I will be extremely disappointed if it is allowed and feel the whole system will lose credibility as a result. The positive outcome either way is a building of community - I knew none of the residents of this street beforehand and now feel I could drop in anytime to say 'hi'.