I came late to discovering the wonder of growing and sharing flowers - after the love affair with my role as an NHS clinician dulled in the face of mounting bureaucracy and targets; after the door to parenthood closed; and after I was left without an obvious outlet for the care and love I’d been saving up for my kids – the children, including our baby Clem, who my husband and I never got to meet.

Grief has turned out to be both the darkest and most energising force in my life. It led me to Gateway Women – an organisation set up to support those of us coming to terms with childlessness, and through it, meeting my dear friend Lizzie. Together with Dunc and Dion, our other halves, and with help from a host of other amazing people, we set up Clem’s Garden CIC in 2017.

Four growing seasons later (no, I no longer talk in terms of years!) and here we are. 

Clem’s Garden has become established as an entirely volunteer-run social enterprise. I have a brilliant team of supportive colleagues, many of whom are childless and know that they can find a space where their nurturing, skills, and knowledge can be valued, and their experiences understood. We proudly grow beautiful, seasonal chemical-free flowers together, offering a more sustainable alternative to imported blooms; we’ve built a loyal local customer base; and we’re delivering on a social mission that is close to our hearts. It goes something like this:

We believe that flowers can bring people together. When people buy flowers for other people, it’s usually to remind them that they care. We’d like to encourage more of that…people reaching out to other people – not just families, but neighbours and friends too.

Our Kindness Fund, built on donations and profits from spring tulip sales, allows us to make free jars of our flowers available to people in our local community who want to reach out to neighbours and remind them that they’re being kept in mind (over 550 jars went out last year); and all other profits are donated to support grassroots community projects in the local area.

Although I must confess, my relationship with Clem’s Garden is pretty much all-consuming, I’m grateful to have found a new meaning in my life through nurturing our beautiful flowers, developing new friendships, and connecting with nature and the seasons.  It’s a privilege to be actively helping to shape a living legacy of environmental responsibility and kindness in our local community, one where neighbourhood relationships are valued, and people feel more empowered to reach out and connect with one another.  Our hashtag #CommunityIsFamily, is a shorthand reminder of the important roles we can all play in enhancing each other’s lives (whether or not we have children), if we take some time and build the confidence to look outwards - we all have something valuable to share, even if there are times when we feel as though we’re standing on the fringes.

I hope Clem would feel proud of the legacy (s)he has left.

Vicky House