In my book, Digging Deep: Unearthing Your Creative Roots Through Gardening, I use creativity in the garden as a metaphor for being innovative in other areas of life. Being artistic can help you have a more meaningful, authentic, and joyful life.
Gardeners strive for beauty.
We work endless hours, season after season, and year after year. Designing, planting, and tending our gardens. With the hope that we can capture some moments of perfection.
Moments where we sigh and experience a sense of ‘something other’ than our regular state of being.
Where the exquisiteness overwhelms us.
But if we limit our perception of what constitutes beauty, we close down to the possibility of what might be.
Look at what our culture teaches us.
Women are told from the time we’re young that we can cover imperfections with the right make up and clothes. As we grow older, we work hard to look younger. We’re rarely satisfied.
Our gardens are no different. We have a pre-conceived notion of what we want them to be. I understand why.
After all, who doesn’t love the first flush of sweeping bulbs in early spring?
Our May and June gardens, filled with peonies, irises, roses, and alliums, grab our heart.
Our summer gardens with their parade of flamboyant colors take us by surprise. Veggies, tropicals, and annuals grow as quickly as Jack and the Bean Stalk. One day they’re babies, the next day they’re towering over us.
In recent years we’ve been taught to grab onto the coattails of autumn. To squeeze the last of its rich colors, smells, and chilly, crisp days.
As we approach late fall, luscious magazines spill over with spreads of winter gardens …serene, and elegant. A still life painting. A new kind of beauty that gives us pause for thought.
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| Abbey House Gardens |
But how many of us actually take the time to gaze at weaving dead asters with snow nestled at their feet? Or a solo straw colored grass in mid-winter trying to maintain its stature in a stark landscape? A lifeless sunflower ?
For all of you who wish your winter garden away, a suggestion. Give yourself the gift of nature this time of year. Imperfection and death are a part of the natural rhythm of the universe.
Become familiar with its unique beauty. Appreciate it for what it offers. The cycles and imperfections of our gardens are a great metaphor for what we should strive for in our lives.
Dealing with the things that really matter. Accepting that we’re not flawless and we’re growing older. Surrendering to our mortality
Remember that your garden…and you…are perfectly imperfect. Acknowledging this can help propel you forward in living an artistic and authentic life.
And it doesn’t get much better than that!
I love the Abbey House Gardens. Very beautiful. Even though they are not in bloom, between the setting, landscaping and the snow, the photo is stunning.
Wendy,
I can’t take credit for the photo…but I agree with you about the gardens 100%. Whenever I read an article on it with a photo spread, I drool!! Fran
Fran, your words and photos touched me. They reminded me of my solo estate gardening days in the Philadelphia area, always striving for that blissful, perfect moment in the garden…
Gorgeous photos. Nature is beautiful and the result of our efforts is instantly gratifying. Loved the post, Fran! I’ve had to clear out my plants thanks to pigeons occupying my verandah/balcony and now, I have just one little potted plant at my table, which I cherish and nurture. 😀
Vidya…
You are still a gardener when you have just one plant. The nurturing relationship between people and plants is magical ..and real! I have some large birds on my rooftop…and just a few of them can do a lot of damage in a very short period of time! Fran
Beautiful post Fran!
People or plants – we’re all perfectly beautiful just the way we are, regardless of our season. If we weren’t perfect, the Universe wouldn’t have created us.
Slowing down to notice the beauty all around us can transform us. As you’ve said, that beauty is everywhere, regardless of the season.
When we first moved into our house in the mountains, I took on a project to document how nature changes. Every weekend I stood in the same four spots on our property and pointed the camera at the same four views and took a picture of each. I did this for one year and put the photos in an album. I loved it! I want to share it online but I did this before digital cameras were so prevalent (I’m dating myself) so I have to figure out how to get the photos digitized. It was magical to watch how everything changed over the course of the year.
Beautiful post Fran. I love to garden, and these pictures are so inspiring. I love the winter shots as well. Beauty is 12 months a year.
Hi Cathy…
I know you love to garden. I hope you’ll send me pictures of your garden this spring. I would love to see it. Yeh….winter in the garden can be breathtaking. We just need to train our eyes to see it!