Any regular reader of my blogs knows that one of the things I value most about gardening is that is fosters flexibility. Plants are living things, and living things are quirky…we are in partnership with Mother Nature in our landscapes and she has the controlling interest. Wise gardeners soon learn to be attentive and adaptable.
I freely admit to being someone with strong opinions about how things should be done. It’s my Virgo personality, perhaps, or the hard wiring inherited from my father. Yet along with keen opinions I have been blessed to have constant lessons on the wisdom of keeping an open mind, and the garden is one of the best teachers in this regard.
The simple act of watering my Annual Alley prompted me to remember this today. My husband set up the sprinklers early this morning, and when I glanced outside I saw that he’d placed them in totally different locations than I normally do. I always set them on the top path so that they move back and forth, parallel to these long beds, one on one side of the steps and one on the other. He placed them so that they were moving perpendicularly, one on the top of the stone walls and one on the bottom. If we asked two others to water these flowerbeds we might see a third and fourth way to do it.
Life is filled with opportunities to be reminded that there is never only one way to get something accomplished. If we can take this to heart, we too will be irrigated.
Early morning watering at Poison Ivy Acres.
