Plant Therapy

"A garden is cheaper than therapy. 

And you get tomatoes." 

My tiny little patch 3 years ago

I haven't had a real garden for years and years but I can sure identify with this comment I read recently! The older I get, the more I'm discovering how much I love to watch things grow. Pretty sure I inherited that love from my mom.

Marigolds from mom's seeds 3 years ago as well

Mom loved her garden and her flowers. Neither were ever extravagant nor extraordinary but they were an important part of her life. I used to think she wanted to plant a garden in order to feed her growing family. I suppose that was part of the reason, though I'm beginning to understand that, really, she loved to watch things grow. Many were the evenings she would walk out to look at the garden. Often, there was nothing to be picked or hoed or tended, she just looked at it. Sometimes she persuaded my dad to walk out there with her, I can still see them, walking hand in hand.

I understand now why my mom did that. Is there anything more amazing than a seed popping open and new life bursting up from where it's been buried in the ground? 

How do those little shoots break through the hard earth? I don't know, but they do; at least some of them. Of course, I've had plenty of experience with seeds that disappear into the soil and no evidence of them is ever seen again but those aren't the ones that amaze me. 

The ones that amaze me are these sturdy little fellas who push up bravely through the dirt and the rocks. They hold their spindly little stems up to the light and drink in the the sun and the rain.

And then they grow, and grow......

Another thing that amazes me is taking little snippets of green, tucking them into the soil and watching the magic unfold.

The plant above was gifted when Charles was a baby. I've trimmed it numerous times and now have a second plant from it's snippets.

What makes them take root and grow, instead of withering into a heap and turning brown?

 From this little plant has come the ivy plant in the teapot and all the ivy in Jasmine's cement block creation below; amazing.

I do not know; I am not wise enough to explain it. The mystery and wonder of it point me to a Creator who alone is capable of orchestrating such things. There is something about watching it all that makes me very, very happy and puts a peaceful sort of calm in my heart.