Chrysanthemums and Tomatoes

» Carol Wallace - What makes us so fond of the plants we tend?

I'm not terribly fond of all of them, John. In fact I just finished pulling a few after tending them all summer - I decided they asked more than they gave.

But most of the time I am fond of the plants I tend because I feel like they depend on me - and if I nurture them they give me so much in return - satisfaction, beauty, a sense of power, almost.And a senbse of sadness when I do all that I can and the poor thing still doesn't survive -as though I failed it.

-- posted by Carol Wallace

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» Jo Murphy - Hi John

I used to live on the top of Mt Mee. Queensland.
I don't know if you know the place but it looks out over the ocean pointing towards the Glass House Mts.
Paradise? Well when I was living there they decided to build a housing estate. You know the kind where you have to submit plans and be of a certain standard. They also leveled everything to make way for this prestigious living area.
I've actually grown up a little from my more activist days and so I don't run around frenetically protesting anymore. But it was sad.
Obviously it will take a long time for the trees that they have planted to grow and I don't think anything will be able to replace such old relics.

It's all very strange because they could have built around the trees and saved the integrity of the environment and still achieved what they wanted to.

I guess that I have set out to achieve a balance.... not be so radical but still try to care about the environment and about justice.
Would I be out of line if I suggested that gardening is about balance also? Balance of nutrients, balance of exotic and native, balance of cleared space and the jungles and marshes we need to leave intact so that ecosystems can survive.
I never let myself become angry any more...righteous or not because they say we achieve more for the harmony of the whole world when we achieve our own internal serenity.
But it does make you wonder doesn't it?

Jo Murphy
http://www.busywomen.com.au
http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/mura...

-- posted by Jo Murphy

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