I don’t grow sunflowers for their seeds. I don’t grow sunflowers for the birds (though they seem to think I do). I don’t even grow sunflowers because my 5 year old loves to plant sunflower seeds. I don’t even grow them because the bees love them (but this is a nice bonus). I grow sunflowers because I think they’re lovely. I am just fascinated by them.
I always have a favourite spot in my garden, and it is normally where there is s little patch of something I find pretty. It might not even be flowers, but there may just be a plant that has an interesting structure and is a certain shade of green that I find striking.
The fact is that gardening can be hard work, and you can feel a lot of disappointment. Plants die for no reason, pests move in quicker than you expect, what you thought was a luscious looking fruit ended up being full of some kind of larvae, the list goes on. It is important to enjoy something other than the produce, particularly when you are learning.
You must find a way to enjoy just being out there in the garden and that looks different for everyone. Some people might like works of art in their vegie patch, some may prefer little quirky things made of recycled everyday items. Others, like me, may prefer just some flowers or a pretty plant. The loveliness should be specific to you and what you think is beautiful.
It feels frivolous, doesn’t it? Often when we are drawn to growing food, we want to be ever practical and only grow things that we can eat or add in some way to the production of the garden. I believe that the loveliness is for the gardener’s heart. It’s for the creative spirit that dwells deep in our soul that we often deny due to its frivolity.
I think that this creativity is what makes us excellent gardeners. It makes us problem solvers. It makes us want to grow food even though we could just slip down to the shops. It makes us walk this different path.
What do you think is lovely? How can you integrate that into your garden? What will make you want to be in your garden more often? It might be a grevillea, or an annual flower like a sunflower, or it might be a sculpture, or an ornament. Whatever it is, do it. What a fabulous way to be frivolous and to tend to your creativity.
