Grow where you are planted

"The violet is a nun." Thomas Hood

Grow where you are planted. No plant does this better than the violet, bringing beauty and good cheer wherever she blooms.

The viola has always been one of my favorites -- in the wild we call them violets. In the garden we call them violas or pansies. Whatever we call them, they are stalwarts in the garden.

The viola has a very interest history and meaning. Followers of Napoleon who promised to return from Elba with violets used the violet blossom as their insignia in promise of their return.

The viola has been called heart's ease, having been given this name in honor of St. Euphrasia, a nun who was sainted. Her name in Greek signifies thoughtfulness of mind, and she was known for her modesty, humility and charity. Hence the violet has become known as the "humble" violet.

Pliny the Elder (Roman soldier, naturalist and author) wrote that violets worn as a crown mitigate the scent of wine, as well as prevents headaches and dizziness. Briton's used the violet flower as a cosmetic. Violas have been used as dyes, as medicine and for perfume.

The viola family includes violets, violas, pansies and johnny-jump-ups. They grow wild as weed in our lawns, and cultivated in rock formations, in flowerbeds, borders, pots and containers. They come in a rainbow of colors -- white, yellow lavender, blue pink, bi colors, tri colors and speckled. They are small (as small as a half inch) and large (as large as a 4 inch face).

The viola family thrives in cool, moist, partly shady weather. But they will bloom in hot weather. They spread by self-sewing, runners, or can be purchased. And they are prolific bloomers in both the spring and fall.

The viola family is perhaps the most adaptable and hardy plant in the garden. The metaphor for the violet is the humility with which it has been associated for many hundreds of years. It blooms where it is planted, bringing color and beauty to any surrounding. It bears the cold and the rocky soil. It brings a rainbow of colors, sizes and faces to the garden. It blooms in the wild, uncultivated, nurtured and protected.

The metaphor of the violet is to bloom where you are planted. To be humble and modest, and to bring beauty and light in spite of whatever circumstance we may find ourselves.

I am no longer my own, but yours. Put me to what you will, rank me with whom you will; Put me to doing; put me to suffering; Let me be employed for you or laid aside for you, exalted for you or brought low for you.
Let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things; let me have nothing; I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things to your pleasure and disposal.

From John Wesley's Covenant Prayer

Mating for Life

If you feel the urge, don't be afraid to go on a wild goose chase. What do you think wild geese are for anyway?
Will Rogers

We have a pair of Canada geese dwelling in the wetland behind our house. They have been returning for quite a few years now. The photo to your right is our pair with their new gaggle.

Like most birds, Canada geese are migratory, flying overhead in their familiar V shaped formation. They often fly in family clusters and are known to return to the same breeding ground every year. One goose is always in the lead of the V formation. After time, the goose allows another to take the lead. The head movements of the lead give signals to the others.

In the second year of their life, geese find their mate. Most geese pair stay together all of their lives. If one dies, the remaining goose may find another mate, but have been observed to experience a grieving process. Both parents protect the nest while the eggs incubate. Like the order in flight formation, the goose family is often seen with goslings in a line flanked by one parent in the front and one in the rear.

Canada geese reveal a spirit of unity both in their choice of a mate for life, and in their family and flight formation habit. Unity in the family -- where each member has a specific purpose and they stick together. And unity in the greater body, as evidenced in the flight formation is also observed.

Like the geese, we are at our best when we stick together, as mates, and as families. We are not created to live in isolation and total independence. We are created to be in relationship with one another. It is the natural order. Like the geese, we protect each other, nurture each other, and establish a home and family. Like the geese, we gather as community and share the lead with others and the needs are revealed.

The owl will nest there and lay eggs, she will hatch them, and care for her young under the shadow of her wings; there also the falcons will gather, each with its mate. Isaiah 34:15

The high cost of things we love...

And leaves of that shy plant,
(Her flowers were shed) the lily of the vale
That loves the ground, and from the sun withholds
Her pensive beauty, from the breeze her sweets.
William Wordsworth

The lily of the valley is an innocent and pure plant with a beautiful sweet scent, commonly used in perfumes. Its pure and delicate ivory white bell like flowers are used in clusters for wedding bouquets. For years I looked forward to when they would burst through their heavy green leafy foliage, then pick the lovely blooms to bring them to the dinner table. I have done this for over forty years.

And yet, if I come within ten feet, I experience physical pain and misery. It took a while to be fully convinced that they were solely responsible for my migraines, heartburn, runny eyes, and eventually trouble breathing. They are toxic to me. And yet I love them. I still grow a rather large patch not more than 25 feet from my back door.

Besides their obvious beauty, the lily of the valley is reported to have many other attributes. They area believed to improve memory. If you rub their oil on your forehead or the back of your neck, they are said to give you common sense. They lily of the valley signifies the "return of happiness".

The metaphor may be that we sometimes choose to surround ourselves with things (or even people) who have obvious attributes, but are toxic to us. It is like diet coke...I'm fairly sure that consuming several cans a day is not good for my long term health, and yet I drink it daily. I suppose when the misery of being near things that are toxic to us becomes unbearable, we change our habits. I no longer allow either lilac or lily of the valley in our home because of my allergies.

Are there things in your life that you react badly to when you bring it into your home? Are there things that you can admire and appreciate from afar, protecting you from discomfort or harm? Is there anything you should eliminate from your "garden", to ensure your overall health?

How can you say to your brother, "Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye," when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. Luke 6:42

Weeds in the Flowerbed; Flowers in the Weeds

What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Things rarely turn out the way we plan. How often do we intend to accomplish one thing, and something altogether different happens. Sometimes this life metaphor is so evident in our garden. Our daffodil patch has more weeds than flowers. And some of the most lovely daffodil varieties are shining among the weeds near our compost and burn piles. Why does this happen?

We work and cultivate for one thing to happen -- a great bed of daffodils, for instance. Instead it is embarrassing how prolific the weeds are in this particular bed of flowers. And around the yard, uncultivated and unnurtured by us are the most lovely flowers. I guess we need to constantly remember that we are not in command of what grows.

We simply garden. And the rest is up to the true Master Gardener. This most likely applies to all areas of our life. No matter how we strive and work for something to grow or change...we cannot ensure the outcome. It is out of our hands. The only thing of importance to us is the process.

I am the true vine, and my father is the gardener. John 15:1

"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds"

Nobles, citizens, farmers, mechanics, seamen, footmen, maid servants, even chimney sweeps and old clothes women dabbled in tulips.
Charles MacKay, author of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, 1841

The tulips reached their peak in Pennsylvania about a week ago. Tulips are particulary lovely and I am hoping to add a few bulbs to my garden next year. The deer decimated my tulips over the years, and I have been reluctant to indulge in a few bulbs again, only for them to be destroyed. This makes it so hard to understand the Dutch tulip mania of the 17th century. Bulbs that would not flower until the following season sold for $2000 each. And it begs the question for all of us...why are we so influenced by popular culture?

It is hard to say why the Dutch become so feverish about the tulip over the rose or the peony. But by 1634 demand was so great that the whole county seemed to turn to the production of the tulip. Tulips had been introduced at extremely high prices, demand was maniacal, but the market suddenly collapsed, leaving the country's economic system in shambles, and many impoverished.

At the height of the craze, is has been reported by MacKay and others that one man paid $40,000 for 40 tulip bulbs. Another reported to have traded wheat, rye, four fat oxen, eight fat swine, twelve fat sheep, hogshead wine, four tuns beer, two tuns butter, one thousand pounds of cheese, one bed, one suit of clothes, and one silver cup for a total of $1000, all for one root of the Viceroy tulip.

In the end, everybody had tulips and nobody had money.

The dot.com craze, the real estate bubble, zhu-zhu pets... they are all the same in some ways. A quick way to make money? Something we must have to gain our neighbors admiration or envy? Why do we succumb to trends and crazes? Why don't we learn from history, such as the tulip craze? What are the things that we invest in that are not worth their cost to us? What are the ways the popular culture influences us to squander our resouces?

In spite of the painful history, the beauty of the tulip, particularly en mass, can't be denied.


Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never fail you. I will never forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

Elizabeth: A new life in the garden

My mother is my root, my foundation. She planted the seed that I base my life on, and that is the belief that the ability to achieve starts in your mind.
Michael Jordan

This is a very special blog entry about a very special garden and a even more special gardener.

Today, the garden is in Indiana, in a beautiful women's health center, where my daughter has just given birth to our first grandchild. A beautiful and perfect little girl, Elizabeth, has entered the world today.

If any have any question about the obvious metaphor of gardening and raising children, consider this story: Two women were discussing raising children. The first said that she would raise her children with free will, to be unfettered and unconstrained by the wisdom of the ages. They would be allowed to grow on their own, and make their own decisions.

The second mother pondered this, then simply asked this question: "Would you like to see my garden?" The first mother said yes, and they proceeded to a plot of ground with brush and thickets and weeds all around. The first mother said, "This is no garden. "

The second mother said, "I know. I allowed this garden to grow freely, and fettered and unconstrained. I allowed it to grow on its own, with no guidance from me, the gardener."

And so the metaphor of mother (and father) as gardener is profound. At birth, we assume the responsibility of the garden -- watering, providing light, pruning and protecting, and removing the garden hazards. We do this knowing full well that the fruit of our labor is not ours to keep.

And as Samuel Rutherford wrote: "Let you children be as so many flowers, borrowed from God. They are not ours any more than the garden is ours. They are gifts."

And so, today, I am profoundly grateful for the gift --into the grand garden of humanity the Master gardener has brought forth a new blossom -- Elizabeth Jean.

...He said to them, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." And He took the children in His arms, put His hands on them and blessed them. Mark 10:14-16

A Blanket of Protection

At their core, when things really matter, people see a need to turn to God for strength and protection. Lee Greenwood

Just as a baby is swaddled in a blanket -- to keep her warm, and to help her to be secure in her environment, the gardener knows that young seedlings and plants need similar protection.

How many of us have planted something, only to watch is freeze in the cold, wither in the sun? An experienced gardener learns to protect the plant.

Mulch is the blanket -- the protective cover. Nothing glamorous about it at all -- and it is material which has been reused, recycled and composted in most cases.

Mulch prevents erosion of the soil. It keeps young plants warm and insulates moisture. It diminishes weed growth, and provides nutrition as it decomposes. Mulch keeps our foods clean, keeps our gardens clean, and maintains a more even soil temperature.

Gardeners have been mulching for at least two thousand years. Pliny the elder (AD 23-79) refers to compost in his writings. citing the effectiveness of piling organic materials on garden plants.

Like the humus of the forest floor, it becomes both protection and the fuel for growth. And best of all is that mulch is a key component of the circle of life --compost, organic clippings and residue are the food for the new life.

We, too need a "blanket" of protection as we struggle to grow, to be strong and healthy -- keeping good things in and the harmful out? What is your blanket? That is for you to answer.

But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protections over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. Psalm 5:11