HUMOR: thoughts/perspectives on gardening

Hello Folks,

Now is the time to pick your favorite irises.  My theory is that these are
those that have bloomed in your garden and you find yourself anticipating
seeing them bloom again.  Newbies and seedlings (parents are indulgent)
don't count.  So those you anticipate seeing the most are the favorites.

Gardening is as much an activity of the mind as anything else.  Reality
never matches what we conjure up when planning.  We blithely ignore the
probability of bad weather, insects and disease.

So in the age of computers, if we could satisfy ourselves, there would only
be virtual gardens - perpetual bloom, no rot, no aphids, no leaf spot, no
weeding, no blisters, never a chance for a hail storm.....well it doesn't
work for me anyway.

Seedling beds are inherently unattractive.  All the beautiful visions in our
head and then we spend so much time and effort working on something that
tends only to the practical, not the beautiful.

Seedling beds get an inordinate amount of attention, so the net result is a
bit of derelict look on the remainder of the garden.

Have you ever tried to explain why you do the seedling bit to a
non-gardener?  Have you noticed the look you get?  Best to attempt this far,
far away from a mental institution.  Keep these folks in the display area!

I suppose that is why there are tiny display areas and large areas that
suffer neglect as time and circumstance dictate.

Greed runs rampant.  One more plant squeezed in where there's no room.
Planting in inappropriate locations even knowing better than to try.

Gardeners tend to want what they can't have.  Meconopsis for me, or a
species oncocylous that thrives year after year.  We keep trying, usually
with dreadful results and the resulting eyesore.

Gardening is characterized by memory loss.  We never remember how much work
is involved in the preparation of planting and maintaining even a moderate
amount of gardening space.  Makes it easy to give in to greed....then suffer
the consequences.  And we do it season after season.

So, all in all, gardeners have to be eternally optimistic, even though
there's no evidence that optimism is ever likely to be justified.  Perhaps
we are all incorrigible gamblers.  I personally think it's in the genes.
Ever noticed how the gardening syndrome runs through families?

Already anticipating spring.

Donald Eaves
donald@eastland.net
Texas Zone 7b, USA



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