I often think about the changes I have seen since I was young, and how much they have actually improved the quality of our lives. Technological improvements are great, but we often forget they are supposed to be tools rather than obsessions. For example, cell phones sure beat party phone lines and waiting 15 minutes for operators to arrange a long distance phone call. But there are times that these devices should be shut off or left somewhere out of range. Especially in today’s world, we need to have some undisturbed time to think through our problems, unwind, and prioritize. Technology can have a negative effect on the quality of our life if we let it rule our lives.
In the last 40 years, gardening has also changed and definitely not for the better. Our business started out in West Park, a great Cleveland neighborhood. At that time, many people were regular gardeners. They cut their own grass and planted their own flowers. They found it to be a relaxing outlet from a stressful day in the office or assembly line.
Today people seem to have forgotten the pleasure of gardening, and like many other things in life, rush to get their planting done as quickly as possible, in an allotted time slot. This ruins a relaxing, creative, and therapeutic experience. A 1990’s poll said this was why people gardened — the mental and physical health benefits of the act of gardening. I am sure the results would be different today.
In our early years in Cleveland, we sold as many annuals in July as we did in May. People would stop on their way home, buy a pot, a bag of soil and a few carefully chosen plants to make another planter for a few months of color. They would plant a few annuals to strategically add color to their fading perennial garden. These are creative and therapeutic experiences — much more valuable to us than the cost of materials or the finished product.
One of our customers was a top radiologist at a nearby hospital, specializing in rare cancers. His wife told me that almost every day, before he would come into the house, he would go to his garden — do a little pruning, deadheading, and appreciating of the days treasures. He would often stop at our place for a couple of flowers to plant that evening, like a painter adding a couple more strokes to a painting. He would leave some of his problems in his garden and not bring them into the house.
When I was in my early twenties, on many evenings, some of us would get together after work and go to our favorite perch on the eastern ridge of the Metroparks to watch the sky burst into beautiful colors. In case you haven’t noticed, the sky isn’t the only thing that explodes in color in the last few minutes of the day. The setting sun also brings an intensity of color to garden flowers that rivals the sky.
Theologian Joseph Campbell believes heaven and hell are right here, right now, and how we choose to live our lives determines where we spend our time. He says appreciating the little things that our living experience has to offer puts us in a heavenly state. He feels that we all need time to reflect on our lives to discover if we are following our bliss and becoming who we really are, or simply reacting to daily distractions as time passes us by.
We only have a short time here. Take some time to not only appreciate your flowers, but watch how much they benefit so many other living creatures — like bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds collecting the last nectar and pollen of the day. I have watched Monarch butterflies fly over our building, land on a particular dahlia, get a quick snack, and fly away. This single plant had become part of a butterfly’s daily routine. Hummingbirds also have their daily routine visits. You can’t walk away from these experiences without feeling better. Snacking on a few cherry tomatoes, a Mad Hatter pepper, or other garden treasures while you watch, is really great icing on the cake.
This is participating in life in an amazing world on an incredibly unique planet — and you can do it every day, in your own backyard.