Gravel crunched under my sandaled feet as my dusty toes stretched forward for each new step. The kind of summer sun that slaps your eyes and makes you squint shone hotly, bugs buzzed and whined in the green fields on either side of the well-trod back road. Chirping birds popped suddenly above the swaying plants to vie for my attention before dropping out of sight again to flirt and flutter with their neighbors, searching for bugs and seeds.
But the smells that wafted up around me were all I was really taking in. Sweet clover, faintly spicy alfalfa, and a scent I could only describe as "green growing things" flooded my head. I felt no fatigue as my legs reached forward with each swinging stride. I didn't know it then, but the alfalfa, grasses and clover would always be plants that brought me home again. Back to the place of springing up well-being and wholeness I felt growing up in the country.
Often gardeners come to us looking for plants that bring them home again. That place we all belong and feel complete. Each person has their own unique story, the childhood memories of chaining daisy crowns. smelling grandmother's lilacs, picking beans out on a summers evening as the crickets start to sing. Unknown to us, plants have been helping weave our story all along, becoming part of who we are today.
What plants bring you home?
I encourage you to stop and ponder, you may find you enjoy your gardens and personal outdoor space much more this next season! Do your early memories contain cheerful pansy faces greeting you each spring? Are you a child of the mountains, needing woodsy fragrances and shaded privacy to be at peace and feel at home in your outdoor space? Perhaps the flaming contours of spilling petunias in pots takes you back to that beautiful place called home.
Scents can be just as anchoring emotionally as sights. Like Lillies-of-the-Valley, Roses or Jasmine, Lavender or Sage.
And we can never under-estimate touch. Did you always love the gentle fringe of ferns rolling under your fingers, rubbing fuzzy Lamb's Ear, or fingering beaded succulents?
Whether creating plantings for myself or others, I always end up journeying back to where the joy and wonder of growing things gave me wholeness. Back home.
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