October 10

Gardens, like lives, take years to reach maturity.  Even if you are stupidly rich and can buy large trees, an instantly-landscaped garden cannot replicate a garden that's been developed year after year, season after season.  But even with time, a garden that's been around a while won't amount to much unless the gardener has given it some forethought.  In my front yard are five flats rooting cuttings that will this Fall become a hedge.  In 15 years' time, those little cuttings will be a solid, beautiful line of shrubbery standing resolute along the edge of my property, branches poking through the fence, an impenetrable barrier to wandering dogs, deer, and nosy neighbours. Similarly, a life without forethought is likely to yield mixed results.  Some planning is required, and then sustained effort to implement the plan is needed.  

 Old Water Gardens has a master plan.  It will take me years to get there.  As funds become available, each year, new beds will go in. Meanwhile, other, older beds will need sustaining, compost, cover crops and time to be fallow.  Parts of the garden will be set aside to grow plants and crops that can be used for compost or for mulch. Other parts will be for the eyes or the table, or the heart.  Each new bed will demand care, older plants will need pruning, maintenance or where plants are found to be a poor fit, removal. Any gardener knows the work that goes into creating a new garden.  Since this is the case, it makes sense to look at the land with imagination and envision how it will look in years to come. Then draw up that plan and put it on the wall as a reminder of the way forward.  If we use the contours of the land wisely and choose suitable plants for each area to feed ourselves - on our tables, our eyes, and our hearts - then that harmony will be felt each day.  Visitors will feel grounded or inspired or comforted, not always knowing why.  

Our lives are likewise.  If we recognise the contours of our lives, of our personalities, we can plan and plant and nurture and in the coming years, similarly be secure in who we are, how our lives are able to nurture our family, loved ones, and comfort strangers.  It will give us the depth we need to survive the challenges that life inevitably throws at us.  It will allow us to give back.  And as with a garden, it'll take about 20 years of planning and doing to be a wild, serene, beautiful space.