A Gardening Life – May 4
As I walk around my early-May landscape it is a lesson in the attitude of gratitude. Every square foot of land contains a blessing, but only if I have the right approach to receive it. The spring garden is the perfect place to practice a capacity for appreciation and the ability to control our outlook.
The seasons alone cultivate the facility to find joy in the smallest things. After a winter of landscape dormancy that can easily bleed over into our daily lives, the tiniest signs of growth and the smallest flowers are treasured beyond measure. The bright and bold yellow of Forsythia that might be viewed as garish in July is cherished and celebrated in the springtime. Tiny sprouts that will be overlooked later in the summer prompt cries of delight in May. After months of inactivity the smallest signs of growth are cause for rejoicing.
My friend Chris H. and I emailed today that we were both plant crazed at present, and delighted to be so. It is the time of year when hope, faith and fulfillment collide. Yet is also the season for adaptation and acceptance. There are plants that have been damaged in the winter, forever altered by snow, cold or wind. Some are disfigured and others have died. In the face of this loss we are once again challenged to find tolerance and acclimation…we acknowledge our losses while finding reasons to plant again and move forward.
Once we move to that place of recognition and appreciation it isn’t that our losses and burdens have disappeared. They are just lifted…pushed up and held by the awareness and joy of renewal. I suggest that a close connection with Nature and the land, along with the willingness to plant and tend a garden, is an excellent way to grow gratitude.
This early spring landscape contains it all: flowers, vibrant color, fresh and tender growth, and dead plants. (See the patch of twigs among the daffodils? Three dead Potentilla.) There are also numerous weeds, my yard being the Chickweed Captial of the Northeast right now. There are also tiny seedlings of prized biennials, not to mention a swirlling chorus of birds. My cup runneth over.
Sharing The Wealth
Keeping Spring Sanity
- Tackle garden chores a small section at a time. If you think that everything has to be done right away you’ll be overwhelmed and go indoors to eat ice cream. Take pleasure in what you’re able to do even in ten short minutes.
- Don’t ever think that gardening is linier. You’ll never finish one thing completely before you go on to another…gardens (and life) don’t work that way. You might get one bed weeded and some containers planted, but there will always be other areas to pull weeds and other things to plant. This is OK.
- Take every opportunity to walk slowly though the landscape looking for the tiniest of changes. Do this not with a mindset that you need to do something about what you see…walk with an intention of appreciating what is there. What colors do you see? What fragrances do you smell? What sounds do you hear?
