If you believe in karma and the good and evil sort of philosophies... is it possible that someone who has done a lot of bad things and caused great harm can still redeem themselves by being a gardener and giving back to life and goodness by creating good things in green ways? If the whole thing of life and having an afterlife of some kind is based on checks and balances can someone who has not been good to other people still be considered a good prospect for the afterlife if they have done good things with the other living creatures in our world? Or, do we as people think we are so self important that good deeds to plants and animals do not out weight bad deeds done to human beings?
Once you take time to think about this, write a character who isn't considered a good person and yet this same person has the most amazing garden which he/ she keeps themselves, working with their own hands to create it and keep it beautiful and growing.
The best place to seek God is in a garden. You can dig for him there. - George Bernard Shaw
I found this quote after I wrote this post. Just thought I'd find something nice to add about working in the garden. But, this is far more interesting.
We tend to think of things we want right now, or in the near future. Yesterday I was watering the garden (watering in the compost really) and I began thinking about what I want 10,000 years from now.
Besides the fact that I would like to be immortal and actually see the world in 10,000 years, I would like to see seeds from the plants I'm tending now. Imagine seeing the new seedlings growing from their great-great-great-grandparents, which you watered 10,000 years ago. I like to think that I made a difference, however slight. Maybe I will never have fame and fortune, but there will be trees here which I helped grow.
At least, there should be. If not for that band of rogue aliens which come to Earth in 8462 and torch the whole place, for no reason. Just some freak road rage incident.
Here in this body are the sacred rivers: here are the sun and moon, as well as all the pilgrimage places. I have not encountered another temple as blissful as my own body.
"I have found, through years of practice, that people garden in order to make something grow; to interact with nature; to share, to find sanctuary, to heal, to honor the earth, to leave a mark. Through gardening, we feel whole as we make our personal work of art upon our land."
- Julie Moir Messervy, The Inward Garden, 1995, p.19
"I do not understand how anyone can live without one small place of enchantment to turn to."
My Mother was attacked by a plant this week. No, it wasn't some weird alien, mad scientist sort of thing. It was a plain ordinary plant that had a very nasty affect on her skin.
I've had those kind of burns/ blisters that you get from poison ivy or poison oak. (Afterwards we couldn't be sure which is was). I went walking in a wooded area wearing sandals. The blistery things were itchy and they spread from my feet to my ankles and hands. I wasn't very good at resisting the impulse to scratch them and play with them. (It's the mad scientist in me).
However, my Mother's plant attack was different. It didn't itch. It did leave her with big, ugly gashes on the back of her wrist and hand. It really did look like she was attacked with a knife. Kind of creepy really. But, it was a plant.
She thinks it was the harmless meadow rue which we have had planted in the garden for years now. I'm not so sure. It doesn't make sense really. Why would she have a reaction to the touch of this plant now when she has worked around it for years? Anyway, that mystery may never be resolved.
Anyway, should you have something in your garden that you don't know on sight, wear gloves when you pull it out. Some plants can be poisonous to the touch, not just when eaten. Or, if you have access to a wild plant reference book, look it up first. See if it's a risky plant and then decide if you want to pull it or grow it. Some of our more interesting garden plants have come in from nature (birds, wind and fate). Also, make sure you know the plants you choose from the nursery. Read about them, there is a chance that pretty little flower may be more than you bargained for.
Happy gardening!