She began writing the garden column for the Canberra Times in 1984, and moved over to the Chronicle in 1997.

During those years, Canberrans came to rely on her timely, comprehensive and erudite articles, that always threw in a bit of fascinating background along with the tips for topsoil.

Many readers may have noticed that her articles disappeared from these pages towards the end of last year.

Unfortunately (for us), Diana has announced that after a period of poor health, she has retired and is now comfortably settled in Queensland, close to her son and daughter.

"Now I'm in a tropical climate and will be learning about what grows here," said Diana. "I have a small garden bed to play with. There are so many plants here I don't know and look forward to finding out about."

Diana's interest in gardening was sparked by something the rest of us would have perhaps overlooked.

"When I was little, during the war, my grandfather used to make me go out and collect manure from the horses that delivered to his Manchester tobacconist shop," she said.

"He'd give me a few pennies a bucket, and he'd put it on his sweet peas. So that got me hooked."

After moving to Australia, she became interested in pelargoniums, in particular, and eventually studied horticulture at the Canberra Institute of Technology.

She went on to publish a book, "Growing Geraniums and Pelargoniums", with Kangaroo Press in 2001.

The Canberra Chronicle want to take this opportunity to thank Diana for all the hard work and scrupulously thorough information she has provided for our readers over the years.

Canberra gardens are the better for it, and for her.