“A garden is to grow people”
- Author Unknown
Today
is the first day of spring! For Midwesterners there is something
especially beautiful at the emergence of new and renewed plant life from the
earth. As the temperature warms and the daffodils peek out of the earth,
I get excited and energetic to dig in the dirt like I did as a
child. As I write this essay my windows are open to the fresh
air. But it is interesting how far removed we are from gardening as a
society. For many suburbanites, we (or our lawn services) fertilize and
put down weed killers trying to prevent all sorts of non-grass varieties like
clover from our grass. I remember as a child spending hours in my
backyard looking for a four-leaf clover. Who does that anymore?
Wouldn’t it be better for the bees if we had white clover in our
lawns? It is interesting how we now think of a perfectly green
manicured lawn as the beauty standard. I have to admit there is
something about a rolling green lawn that invites you to step on it. But
I have to wonder, what forces determine what we think is beautiful or
not? How do we decide what our values are? I believe a master
gardener does not just think about how a garden should look, but understands
the nature and requirements of the garden necessary to thrive in its environment.
And the combination of both thoughts is what makes a garden beautiful.
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