Secret garden

On gardening and springtime scents.

May 07, 2021

Welcome to Small Joys, a bi-monthly(ish) newsletter about finding great joy in the little things. Here are a few things that have brought me joy.

Spring is in the air

When I first started writing this, a bout of wintery weather had blown through Ontario, blanketing everything in powdery white snow. Right now, we mostly have cloudy days with slivers of sun. I’d like nothing more than several gloriously sunny days in a row so until then, here are a few spring-like scents that are worth spending time indoors with.

Smells like a garden: LOHN Lush Candle
This candle’s leafy green scent reminds me of a springtime garden, the kind you walk through after the rain and everything smells bright and fresh. It also has floral notes of jasmine, rose and lily of the valley with a touch of plum.

Smells like a tart and delicious pie: Jo Malone Tangy Rhubarb Cologne
Jo Malone London just launched a Marmalade collection that conjures up visions of homemade jams, light and fluffy scones, and checkered picnic blankets (a few of my favourite things). It has notes of tangy rhubarb and zesty orange tempered by cedarwood.

In bloom

There are two things that I looked forward to the most when I moved into my own place: having a kitchen and a garden of my own. I started gardening about two years ago, but the pandemic gave me the time to really dig in (pun intended!). Last year, I removed some of the things that had been planted by the previous owners and really started to make it my own.

Once I’d made up my mind, I started thinking about the stuff I really wanted in my garden. I planted my first rose bushes, hydrangeas and peonies. These were all my favourite flowers. I’ve always tried to follow some kind of blueprint that others have laid out before me, including in my career. When I first started freelancing, for example, I would look to see what others were doing and feel bad when it felt like I was falling short. Eventually, I stopped looking and just tried to focus on my own path. I felt the same way creating my little garden oasis.

There’s something else I’ve learned while gardening. One of the reasons I love is because no one is looking. There’s no pressure to get it right, no pressure for anything to thrive and flourish. The plants and flowers don’t judge you. They also don’t really listen to you either because they’re all growing at their own pace. All I can do is help them along.

I read an article about not being weird about gardening and there’s a line that really stood out for me: “I had to allow myself the grace of failing and not letting that become a thorny branch with which to beat myself.”

From my bookmarks:

A new season of Ted Lasso is coming in July! In one of the earlier newsletters, I wrote about why the show is such a joy to watch.

Shayma Saadat talking about her family meals during iftar in Lahore (like a sweet and savoury fruit chaat) made me really hungry and nostalgic.

A reference for future travel: 17 Airbnbs That Belong in a Nancy Meyers Movie.

Jhumpa Lahiri on her love of the Italian language and her new novel, Whereabouts, which she first published in Italian in 2018 and translated to English herself.

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Have a great weekend!
x Mishal

Small Joys