Marc Provins

I had a curious thought recently; you might call it a moment of clarity, and something that makes me read my memories slightly differently. Growing, gardening, tending the land for me is a form of therapy that helps me look after my mental health. It struck me that as I come from a family of gardeners, my clan have probably also been self-medicating, using growing and nurturing as a way of maintaining equilibrium. As a child I thought they were growing crops or making the garden look pleasing, which they were, but all the time they may have also been doing what they needed to do to tame the chattering monkeys.

I've been meaning to photograph these delicate Japanese anemone for weeks, but life got busy and they shed their petals. They've reached nearly a metre tall in my front garden, putting on a display for months. Today they looked otherworldly in the surprise October sunshine and I couldn't resist them. They are quite contrary; named Japanese but actually Chinese, both medicinal and poisonous. Anemone can apparently be used to calm you during panic attacks but today my eyes were itching all afternoon after handling them. A botanical double edged sword.