My neighbor deflected the compliment; answering, Well, I am hopeful, when some remarked upon my friend’s goodly gardening ambitions.
She is a prodigious and productive gardener; plus she generously shares when she divides her bounty.
No garden or flower bed ever just materializes, does it?
No.
All industry must be excited by hope. — Samuel Johnson: Rambler #117
Sweat equity, imagination and HOPE are as necessary components of flowering gardens as soil, weather and a trowel. (Plus a few shekels to invest in seeds and new plants!)
Also, another fundamental component of a praiseworthy garden is time. Some plants won’t burst forth on cue; they emerge when they are ready. Although the flourishing of seeds may be predictable, the process is mysterious, and not always in sync with what seed packets predict. Nor do plants!
Two Cases in Point
I inherited some plants, I call lilies of the valley in the side bed. For the past five years, only their leaves showed up.
First bloom in FIVE years
This year, the dainty flowers bloomed, albeit only on a few plants, demonstrating that in addition to time, mystery is a component of gardening as well.*
My modest and hopeful gardening neighbor reported that twenty-seven years ago she planted tulips around the base of a plum tree that subsequently died a few years later. She removed the tree; yet, the tulips’ foliage grew through the grass for almost three decades. Then, this year a trio of yellow tulips burst forth — gaily demonstrating a botanical lesson beyond my pay-grade.
Better late than never!
A Hopeful Goad
My friend’s off-hand comment about being hopeful and hardworking is a good way to start a new week in these new but still uncertain times.
“Give it time,” are three words I wore out in 2020! Still,
Hope means expectancy when things are otherwise hopeless. –Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936)
Hard work still needs HOPE, and being hopeful cultivates more than ambition.
It is not the end of joy that makes old age so sad, but the end of hope. Jean Paul Richter
Here’s hoping we both get good work done, dear reader, with TIME to dance!
Hope is hearing the melody of the future. Faith is to dance to it now. ~ Ruben Alves
- * The Seed Analogy from Scripture)
- PS. About sowing wildflower seeds: I found out from our son-in-law, some are better sown in winter than spring! Here’s a good link: Sowing Seeds in Winter
- Thanks to Christiansquoting.com for inspiration
Oh! for a bouquet like this!
Love this!