A Fool and His Garden

Ican vividly recall a certain twenty-four hours from second grade . I was trying to make an ice garrison for my gilbert Joes out of the capacity of a huge shock of glue and some Popsicle stick I retrieve in the art way closet . It would have operate , too , had the artistry teacher not stoppedme with the doubtfulness “ Honey , what kind of fool are you ? ” This was back in the day when teachers could both call a student “ Honey ” and diss him freely . There was mastery in the direction she did both at once . And since that day , it seems as though my aliveness has been one retentive quest to answer that very question : What kind of jester am I ?

It turns out that there are many answers to that question . My wife has more than a few thoughts on the subject as well . But I have found a new solution by thinking about Loree Bohl ’s garden feature inMany Plants , One Garden . Loree is like many of us : affectionate of plants , and given to bringing home as many of them as possible . She add and adds to her garden , and matter only look good . you could see the lush beauty of her garden in every photo .

I , too , make for home a large number of plant . Some even get found and endure . But my garden is nowhere near the stage of Loree ’s . There is more materialise in her garden , and in any decent garden , than just a lot of plants growing . Loree has ideas on what flora should go in certain areas . I put things where there is open blank . She reflects on what is work and what needs change . In my garden , if a plant life is doing fine , I do n’t need to mess up with it . If it is contend , it will soon give some heart-to-heart space for another works that I just had to have .

A successful decorative gardener need to have an eye for the prowess of works and how they figure out together . Such a person must have the bravery to prove , and when the endeavor does n’t work out , to try something unlike . Often it is this courage that help germinate the esthetic center . And it is the eye that sees that a garden is n’t about the turn of plant it holds , but how those plants play a part in making the whole space more beautiful .

So to deliver the goods , one take to call back , human activity , and reconsider .

Any fool can plant a lot of plants . And that ’s the form of fool I am .

— Steve Aitken , editor program at large

From Fine Gardening # 196

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