Who Doesn't Love To Garden?

Who doesn’t love a garden? There’s something about gardens and greenery that attracts almost every one I know.

Gardens have also played an important part in human history and religion. In Christian mythology, man and woman were created in a garden while Jesus arose from the dead in a garden. Buddhists create gardens so that nature can infuse their lives. What royal palace doesn’t boast a garden or two? What government institution doesn’t have some green surroundings?

What is about gardens that attract us so? Certainly, we can understand why gardens which grow food are so popular. We need food; we like food. Anyone who wants to live a sustainable lifestyle needs a garden to provide food. But what about those gardens which aren’t edible, which exist purely for their beauty? What do rose and other flower gardens give us? Why do we spend time planting vegetation we can’t eat?

The benefits of flower gardens are somewhat less clear-cut than those of vegetable gardens, but after some thought, I think I’ve got a few ideas why we like a garden we can’t eat. First, even though we as humans strive to make our worlds ever more efficient and thus more industrial, we also have an inherent desire to be part of the natural world.

While we don’t all want to give up our cars and computers for a less modern world, we still long for a glimpses of that natural world, even in the midst of our skyscrapers and freeways. A garden offers us a reminder of the simpler times, “the good old days,” and we can find some peace and quiet away from our hectic everyday lives in a garden.

Gardens are places of ultimate relaxation, perfect for meditation and the gentle flowing movements of tai chi. Spending time in a garden provides a momentary interlude away from our hectic modern life.

Perhaps too we feel some responsibility for the nature we’ve damaged or lost in our quest for modernity. Our guilty feelings may arise from knowing the true cost of our modern lives has been at the expense of nature. Taking the time to plant and enjoy a garden is a tribute to the natural world we destroy on a daily basis. This sense of guilt may be why so many people use their precious leisure time to garden.

Planting and caring for a garden is great exercise, of course. Who can argue with an activity that gets us moving, makes the world around us more beautiful, and might even provide us with some high-fiber, low-fat, good-for-us food? Whatever the reasons we are drawn to gardens and gardening, it is in our best interest to keep up this passion. Since overweight/obesity and dirty air/pollution are two negative trends in the United States, taking the time to plant a garden and enjoy its beauty can make the world a better place.

I’m not a shrink by any means; I’m just someone who gardens and wonders about the appeal of gardening. I find myself thinking about my own reasons for gardening. Why do I take the time, every day, to spend time in my garden, to feed and tend and nurture plants which could certainly grow without my help? Even if I never get the answer, I’ll still get the pleasure of being in my beautiful garden.