What possible connection could there be between the shootings at Fort Hood and the garden?  Yesterday and today I listened to the news about this tragic event, and I’ve heard and read various reactions to it. Some of these responses tried to distill things into something simple. If only the military didn’t accept those with antiwar beliefs, for example.

As these responses play in the background I look out onto my garden and think that we humans are prone to trying to simplify situations. Perhaps this stems from our desire to understand, to make things so uncomplicated that we can be assured that if only this had been done, all would be well, and we would be safe.

Looking at the garden, I thought of the many gardening books, articles, and websites that try to distill the planting process into a few easy steps. If you do this and that, they say, you’ll have a beautiful and successful garden.

If only the garden and life were this straightforward. Yes, we can try to reduce things to the minimal steps and the unadorned cause and effect advice. Sometimes this works. But it’s been my experience that the more I know, the more I understand that things are far more complex than I’ve previously realized.

There is always more to learn.

We see a beautiful garden and know that cultivating such a landscape isn't just a matter of deciding which plants we want and then putting them in the ground. The soil need to contain the elements and microorganisms that help plants to grow, for example. The light and moisture needs to be right. The plants need to work well in a community, and...

I couldn't duplicate this garden on Poison Ivy Acres if I wanted to... the climate, soil, and other growing conditions are different than those on Cape Cod. I'm sure that there are many other aspects of this garden, both subtle and grand, that I'm completely unaware of.