Today, I am thankful for gardening lessons.
It is utterly forbidden to be half-hearted about gardening. You have got to love your garden whether you like it or not. ~W.C. Sellar & R.J. Yeatman, Garden Rubbish, 1936
There is no gardening without humility. Nature is constantly sending even its oldest scholars to the bottom of the class for some egregious blunder. ~Alfred Austin
It takes a while to grasp that not all failures are self-imposed, the result of ignorance, carelessness or inexperience. It takes a while to grasp that a garden isn't a testing ground for character and to stop asking, what did I do wrong? Maybe nothing. ~Eleanor Perényi, Green Thoughts, 1981
When our neighborhood gathers for a summer cookout, the conversation inevitably turns to gardening. Our front yard is still a hot topic - everyone remembers the weekend that I dug up the sod, replacing it with a thick layer of mulch and various xeric shrubs. At the time, my neighbors doubted my plans and sanity. Now, three years later, they compliment me on my garden's beauty and health.
Of course, my neighbors never witness my challenges and mistakes. They never hear my complaints about certain plants and aphid infestations. They never feel my anxiety about over-watering new additions or when to plant spring bulbs. My struggles are private ones.
To me, gardening failures cast an unfavorable light on the gardener. Success, of course, belongs solely to Mother Nature.
For this blessing, I am grateful.
Amen.
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