Gardeners are a Dreamy Lot

Up every mornin just to keep a job

I gotta fight my way through the hustling mob

Sounds of the city poundin in my brain

While another day goes down the drain.

-- Five O’clock World – The Vogues

Some gardeners don’t have the time to garden but that doesn’t stop them from dreaming about one day starting one. Maybe they dream about creating their very own refuge from their five o’clock world, where they can sit and wind down from their daily stress. Maybe they dream of creating some beauty to counter the concrete jungle they spend more than a third of their day engaged in.

A good portion of a gardeners life is spent dreaming. Before the first plan is put to paper, before the first seed is sown, before the first catalog is ordered, we all envision what our perfect dream garden will look like.

If we are fortunate to find some spare time to start digging, we see a future peony or dahlia or rose beautifully blooming right where we sink our shovel. As our energy is expended in preparing the new plot, we find ourselves revitalized from the prospect of seeing our dream come true.

Time is the one necessary factor required to fulfill our dreams. Finding time to get started, stealing time to prepare the beds, grabbing spare time to put in seeds and new starts. Committing time to care for and coaxing the plants to take root. And of course time slows as we wait for each plant to mature and to develop into the dream we started out with.

Beginning a garden can be a stressful experience full of doubt and anticipation.

What will my garden look like? Will the roses, tulips and lilacs grow as big and beautiful as their pictures show? How often should I feed them? Will I lose everything to insects or diseases?

As you water and weed your expectant patch you see signs of new growth and your doubts begin to dissolve and your anticipation turns into encouragement. Soon, shoots become fully developed foliage and buds become blossoms. Your dreams begin turning into something you can actually see, feel and smell. You develop a new appreciation for life and the miracle that is nature.

Then nature sends a reminder of who is boss as the icy cold winds of winter arrives with its killing frost and piles of snow. Once again doubt and anticipation return and we have to wait. We sit impatiently, only slightly consoled by the knowledge that nature has done this for millennia and plants have survived over and over again. But still, this year, your hard work and time was invested. Did you follow the plan well enough to ensure your gardens survival? Will nature be forgiving of your first attempt at gardening? Will your dreams be for nothing?

As days turn into weeks, your attentions become focused on non-gardening activities. Realizing the fate of your garden is out of your hands, you begin relaxing enough to sleep all night again. Then, the endless stream of garden catalogs begin arriving and your dreams come flooding back.

Yes, we spend a lot of time dreaming. For without our dreams our gardens would seem like just another chore in our already busy lives.