In a quiet Orpington street, there’s a garden bursting with colour, vegetables, music and one extraordinary 87-year-old woman known to locals as “Joyce and the Beanstalk”.
Joyce Way, who’s lived Kynaston Road for decades, spends almost every day out in her garden.
Come rain or shine, you’ll find her among her daisies, antirrhinums, and towering sunflowers – many grown lovingly from seed.
She told the News Shopper: “My garden is my biggest heaven.
Joyce’s plants and flower baskets (Image: Joyce Jay)
“I plant my seeds and go from there – my tall sunflower has come from the seeds.”
One passer-by, taken aback by the sheer size of it, jokingly dubbed her Joyce and the Beanstalk.
Joyce explained: “It made me laugh because someone walking past said I have a beautiful garden and said my sunflower looked like Joyce and the Beanstalk.
“I had no clue who he was.”
Joyce’s garden is more than a hobby – it’s her haven, her passion, and her way of staying connected with nature, her neighbours, and herself.
She added: “I have always loved gardening.
“I am out there when I can, but I am disabled.
“I feel lovely – I am lost without it.
“I have my music on, and I am out there.”
Despite the challenges that come with age and mobility, Joyce continues to grow both flowers and food, from vibrant blooms to potatoes and runner beans.
Joyce said: “I do cook with them.
“I save them for winter – I even freeze the runner beans.
“Before we came here, we had two allotments.
“I couldn’t do a lot now, but at my age I am still doing it, and I am so proud.”
Joyce tends both a front and back garden, boasting a stunning display of 20 hanging baskets, sunflowers that tower above the fence, and enough veg to feed a small army.
Born in London and raised in Downham during the war, Joyce married a Bromley boy and made her home in Orpington.
She raised three children – and now has a flock of great-grandchildren, many still local.
Her daughter Tracey, who visits every day, said: “She would do anything for anybody, and she is a good soul.
“She is very independent.
“She’s always there and chats to people as they pass.
“She can get out in the garden and is a happy bunny.
“It’s the little things that keep her going.”
While she’s the first to admit she couldn’t do it without the help of kind neighbours and her family, Joyce’s spirit is what keeps the garden – and the community around it – so full of life.
“Without my neighbours or my family, I would be lost,” Joyce said.
“My favourite thing about it is it is peaceful out there – you forget everything.”
