gardeners.....

"More in a garden grows than what the gardener sows"

Spanish proverb

Or perhaps, I should have quoted the old Hebrew proverb, "As the gardener, such is the garden". 

In the long process of gardening, I've often thought how true this is and have often studied on my own garden and how it reflects me.  It's a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  It is somewhat structured in my own mind and eye, but perhaps not as obvious in others who visit it. I like most all plants, the less formal the better.  I have a weakness for the underdog, hence all the distressed plants brought home that I have nursed back to health.  They often turn out to be some of my most favorite.  Sometimes I like the "quiet" of the shady parts, sometimes the "noise" of the sunny parts and it's riot of colors.  It is pretty much me.

The other day I was visiting my friend Nora.  She is also a reflection of her garden.  You're automatically comfortable walking around the garden with her.  She's usually walking with her shovel in hand, comes to a stop, ask if you'd like a start of this plant or that plant and proceeds to dig you up a clump.   She always has some to share.  It seems the garden knows what a generous gardener it has and obliges by giving her plenty of plants to share.  While walking, we talk of the metaphors of gardening and life.  Or, how one starts out gardening with just one seemingly innocent plant, then two, then more, until you give up and lose count. A garden truly does evolve with the gardener.  

I make it home with a start of a Becky daisy, a ground cover we couldn't identify but has the cutest blue flower, a small flowered white aster, seeds from columbines and a yellow rose plant she had taken a start of and potted up.  They are all now happily planted and watered in my garden.  The yellow rose is outside of my office window next to a light pink rose I started from a cutting.

And so.....my garden has grown a little bit more thanks to the generousity of a dear friend.  The plants of my grandma, my mom, my sisters and my friends all mingle into one place.  A place that reflects this gardener.