Gardening

Gardening is an endeavor of embracing opposites:

Balancing the tension between allowing the sprawl and forcing the tame.

Accepting the surprise of a newcomer in the garden (gift from a pollinator!) and welcoming back the reliable standby.

Taking the risk in planting an unknown plant and buying again and again the predictable performer.

Working with nature and sometimes opposing it.

Allowing the plants to decide where they want to grow and disciplining a bed to look the way I want it to (grow here, dammit!)

Grieving the loss of a favored plant and looking askance at an eager invasive.

Creating a mood by planting sweeps of color and size and somehow weaving together plants that really shouldn't go together.

Cultivating a plan which requires a plant's obedience and allowing for its caprice.

Tolerating the disappointment of a plant that doesn't meet my hopes and exhilarating in the splendor of a plant that exceeds my expectations.

Miserly buying the cheap geraniums and splurging on the lush violet hued Japanese fern.

Gardening is an endeavor a lot like living life.