To wake up to melodious birdsongs, to watch the delicate movements of leaves and flowers as guided by the wind, to feast on the colours lent to us by nature, to create lasting memories, these are the simple joys that Maggie Muya reaps from her home garden.
Athi River is known to be hot, dry and dusty. However, the dust and heat find no resting place in Mrs Muya’s home. However, this hadn’t always been the case. For 10 years, she had a “terrible” garden. It had only two colours: red from the soil and green from the badly grown grass and three trees she’d planted. This was ironical because she was a florist at the time, arranging beautiful flowers that others enjoyed. Two years ago, inspired by a friend and her five-year-old son, she decided to invest in creating a tasteful garden.
“My friend, Mwende, came in one day and told me that I had no business having a bad garden. That was the beginning of my gardening journey,” she recalls.
Her first and best buy was labour from Benard, whose passion for plants, she says is unparalleled. Together, they have seen the garden transform from “terrible” to a marvel. From the initial two, today her garden has grown into a whole colout pallet.