In my garden, the crocuses are among the first signs that spring is approaching. Early in the winter I start to watch for the first crocuses to appear. Their leaves often sprout out of the ground long before the end of winter but the flower buds wait for longer days before they emerge. When I see them start to bloom I know that spring and the return of warmer days will soon follow. They only bloom for a short time and then they are gone again until next year. As with many things in life that are long-awaited, I am often a little said to see the last of them fade away. But while they are here, these cheerful little flowers make me smile.
Don’t cry because it’s over. Smile because it happened.
In the depth of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.
Not as patient for spring as the plants seem to be, I often miss spending time in the garden at this time of year. But the garden is for the birds too and watching all of their activity from the window I see that they make good use of it all year long.
I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder for a moment, while I was hoeing in a village garden, and I felt that I was more distinguished by that circumstance that I should have been by any epaulet I could have worn. ~ Henry David Thoreau
As the last flower blooms of the season fade away and I start to cut things back and clean up the garden in preparation for winter I often feel a little sad to see the season coming to an end. There is always one last brilliant show though before the cold, dark days of winter. These autumn colours remind me that every season has its beauty and there is always something to be grateful for.
Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower. ~ Albert Camus
Each new bud that opens during the last days of summer is like a special little gift. As the days get shorter and cooler, most plants slow down or stop growing in preparation for winter. So, these late-blooming flowers seem to stand out in defiance of the changing seasons.
While spring buds bring the promise of brighter, warmer days to come, late summer and fall buds seem to symbolize persistence and endurance. Their tenacity, the force that drives them to bloom even in the face of adversity, is a reminder that life is not always about doing what comes easily, it is about being in the game.
~ Henry David Thoreau
I’m worried about the bees. For several years now I’ve been hearing about a shortage of bees all over the world and I have noticed fewer and fewer bees in my garden too. I have always enjoyed watching bees at work and have tried to entice more of them into my garden by avoiding pesticides and growing plants that bees like. But I’m not seeing as many of them as I used to.
We are hearing more and more stories about farmers losing their crops because of a shortage of bees. All over the world bees seem to be dying. Bees are the main pollinators for most fruits, vegetables and nuts, but there aren’t enough bees for this any more. They can no longer keep up with all the crops that need pollinating in order to meet our ever-growing demand for food.
The bees are not concerned about or even aware of the impact that their declining numbers has on our food crops. But we all should be worried about the future of the bees and what global issues their decline may be indicative of. We all share the same earth and in many ways the bees are viewed as an indicator species, like the proverbial canary in the coal mine. There are a number of different theories, including pesticides, viruses and parasites, but we still don’t know exactly what’s going on and scientists continue to investigate the causes of their declining population.
In the meantime I’ll keep planting things that bees like in my garden and I’ll keep watching and hoping to see more bees.
~Henry David Thoreau
Inspired by Thoreau, who encouraged close observation and contemplation, I’ve been watching more closely some of the insects that visit or make their home in my garden. Many kinds of insects are beneficial in the garden, like ladybugs and spiders, that are predators of garden pests, and pollinators like bees and butterflies. Not only are these insects helpful for the healthy growth of plants in the garden, watching these little garden dwellers more closely can also be beneficial to the gardener.
Time seems to slow down in the garden. Looking through the eyes of an insect, the past and future seem to contract and all of time exists in the present moment. I spent an hour one sunny afternoon watching the yellow swallowtail butterfly pictured above flutter from flower to flower, pausing frequently to feed on the flower nectar and bask in the sunshine. Not as flamboyant and obvious as the butterflies but quite easy to find when I look for them, many ladybugs also spend time in my garden, usually feasting on the aphids that take a liking to new plant growth. It’s easy to while away an hour watching these busy little bugs.
The butterflies and the ladybugs won’t be in my garden for long and while they are here they remain focused on their own immediate needs of food, water and shelter. They aren’t aware of their beneficial effects in the garden, and are unconcerned about their future. They live in the moment because it is all that they know while we so often stay focused on the past or the future and let the present moments slip away.
We are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think it is forever.
~Carl Sagan
I can’t help but smile each time I discover something new blooming in the garden.
Earth laughs in flowers.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
I just finished reading another insightful and thought-provoking book, Gardens – An Essay on the Human Condition, by Robert Pogue Harrison. Drawing from literary, religious and scholarly sources, Harrison examines the human quest for happiness through centuries of gardens and gardeners, both real and fictional, and examines how gardens are connected with human thinking about mortality, creativity and what gives life meaning.
While discussing how gardens have provided education, creative expression and sanctuary throughout time Harrison refers to the ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus who was among those who taught by means of the garden. He used the garden to cultivate patience in his followers, “a serene acceptance of both what is given and what is withheld by life in the present.”
I particularly enjoyed Harrison’s discussion of the “lost art of seeing” and how gardens can help us to regain it. He comments that “there exists in our era a tragic discrepancy between the staggering richness of the visible world and the extreme poverty of our capacity to perceive it.” Almost a century ago Rainer Maria Rilke hypothesized that it was the earth’s destiny to become invisible and that the process of transmutation of the visible to the invisible had begun to take place. Gardens can help us to rescue the world’s visibility and relearn the art of seeing.
In his novella Candide, the philosopher Voltaire famously urged us to “cultivate our garden” and Harrison reminds us of the nature of that responsibility and its enduring importance to humanity. Voltaire’s use of the pronomial adjective “our” points to the world we share in common. Harrison explains that Voltaire’s view of the human condition was that “where history unleashes its destructive and annihilating forces, we must, if we are to preserve our sanity, to say nothing of our humanity, work against and in spite of them. We must seek out healing or redemptive forces and allow them to grow in us.” This is what it means to tend and cultivate our gardens.
If history consists of the endless conflict between the forces of destruction and the forces of cultivation then this book weighs in on the side of the latter. In so doing it strives to participate in the gardener’s vocation of care.
This book can be purchased in Canada here:
Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition
or in the US here:
Gardens: An Essay on the Human Condition
At this time of year it is not just in our planted and tended gardens that flowers are blooming, the wildflowers are blooming too. Spring walks in the woods are full of little hidden treasures, often showing up where we least expect them. These fragile looking little flowers are much stronger than they look and often survive extremely adverse conditions without a gardener to help them along.
I like discovering wildflowers in the woods. Unconstrained by garden beds, they seem to be so strong and free, able to grow almost anywhere. I always find it reassuring to see that their strength and persistence have prevailed over the harsh winter conditions once again and they have survived for another season of growth.
You belong among the wildflowers,
You belong somewhere close to me.
Far away from your trouble and worries
You belong somewhere you feel free.
~Tom Petty
