Gardens are Great Teachers of Trust - A Morning Ramble!
A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. — Gertrude Jekyll
Good Morning Lovelies!
One of the things I love most about having moved away from the city, is my garden and the time I spend in it. It is not a small space and there are days when I look at it and think to myself "what on earth was I thinking", lol - but those days are few and far between... because when I step outside in the early morning air and take a meander around my slice of heaven, I realise - that even with everything that is still overgrown or the weeds popping up all over the place and the endless number of spaces which I have yet to tend to... it is still absolutely perfect. Wild, flawed and ever evolving.
It is a daily reminder that good things, wonderful things and truly precious, soul enriching things... take time to nurture and grow... pretty much like ourselves and our lives. There is absolutely nothing in nature which does not encounter challenge on a daily basis and yet, it remains nothing short of magnificent regardless. As the quote above says, a garden teaches us entire trust, which is very true - and those words can be perceived from multiple perspectives.
All of the "lessons" nature teaches us are valuable, but for me personally... I think that trust is the most valuable. When we plant a seed in the garden we don't walk away from it filled with doubt - no, we are excited and optimistic and FILLED with trust. We offer trust to the elements, the seasons, the soil, the sun - and even the challenges the seedling will face as it begins to grow. If you think about that from a symbolic perspective, essentially what it means is that a garden (or nature at large) is not just about pretty pink flowers or fragrant roses... it acts as a metaphor for life itself and it teaches us values and virtues which move far beyond the petals and plant pots.
“Now to think that this tree was a mere seed someday seems unthinkable. A seed that could be carried away by the air and thrown anywhere. A seed that had no choice of its own to decide where it would grow had the inherent potential that could grow a forest!” - Sanchita Pandey
More than a year ago, quite some months before we moved into our new place - we went away on a holiday for about three weeks. We stayed in several places along the way and I collected many cuttings and things from the gardens as we went along. I had hoped to root all of them and ultimately plant them in my new garden once we had moved. As you can see I had quite a collection by the time the holiday came to an end... lol!
Among that little collection were three things I REALLY wanted in my garden because they were favourites of my late moms. Sadly, only one or two of the cuttings actually successfully rooted and it wasn't any of the the ones which I was really hoping for.
Once we moved into our new home I obviously began spending a lot of time in the garden seeing what I had in my new space. It did not take very long for me to discover that PRECISELY those three plants - in EXACTLY the colours I had collected cuttings for, were growing in ABUNDANCE all over the place! Needless to say, I was absolutely over the moon! but it also made me smile to myself because it felt truly serendipitous and despite the amount of challenge we faced in successfully acquiring this home - we never lost the trust in it and everything fell into place precisely as we wanted it... even the plants!
For those curious... the three plants (among countless others) that I had tried to root unsuccessfully but had discovered in my new garden were the blue plumbago, the white plumbago and the Cape Honeysuckle as pictured above.
So, there it is... my morning ramble about the magnificent intricacy of life and how even when we cannot "see" or "know" how things happen - when we have trust in the process it all unfolds precisely as it was meant to.
PS. My basil seedlings are now basil plants and hopefully I will be able to start making some basil pesto soon, which you KNOW I cannot wait to share with all of you!
YAY!!!
Happy Tuesday beautiful souls!
“Natures thrives in its own special way – there is a time to begin, there is a time to wait and there is a time to let go and just watch the magical powers of nature unfolding the best it has to offer.” - Sanchita Pandey
❤❤❤
Until next time...
Much Love from Country Bumpkinland, South Africa xxx
Jaynielea
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I have never thought that a garden could lead me in the direction of trust. On the contrary: I assume that I don't need any skills to turn a piece of land into a green paradise. The great talent, nature, can do that all by itself... And bang: trust! Thanks for the change of perspective ;-))
haha :) No problem @weisser-rabe <3
Though, I do not really agree on the "talent" part - Anyone can exercise trust (even if that requires effort) and anyone can plant a seed... but it definitely takes talent to transform ordinary into magical... I say this from the perspective that my mom was a real green fingers and she just had this innate ability to know exactly how, where, what, when and why - that took an ordinary garden and transformed it into an absolute oasis. It was definitely a talent, because it was her first love.
She quickly taught me that you get gardens... and then you get GARDENS... in fact, I often look at my own and wish that she was still here to help me with it. I know it would look a whole lot better than it does right now if she was around haha!!!
But yes, I know what you were saying... just sharing yet another perspective again I guess :)
Happy Valentines Day Lovely! <3
Good day jaynie. Happy to read your post, You have amazing Garden...
Thank you @charter :) and yes... it is my happy place indeed :D