Why Garden?

By Sue Sturgeon, CGC Board President

Every once in a while, when I’m ‘meditating’ (a.k.a. doing nothing), I surmise that, if left to its own devices and given enough time and rain, my garden would eat my house. So gardening seems a defense against the future, a way to maintain my niche in the world.

Other times, usually when I’m reaching for my trusty ‘digger’ to obliterate another plant that’s in the wrong place (a.k.a. a weed), I believe that gardening is a way to ensure the best plants survive and thrive. That my garden continues to bloom both physically and emotionally.

Still other times, especially when family or friends are helping, I’m certain our connections with nature nourish relationships between people and help humans to grow more attentive, caring and interesting.

However fleeting or infrequent, these thoughts and feelings persist. They encourage me to dig that seventy-fifth weed, prune that overgrown shrub (again) or appreciate others in ways that are life sustaining. What better way to practice living, then, than to continue nurturing the garden and supporting talented people who can show us the variety of opportunities that our gardens present every day?

I wish you all fruitful and sustaining days in your garden!