There’s a reason the book jackets of romance novels are often bedecked with florals. And why we give bouquets of flowers for Valentines Day, our birthdays, to celebrate and to appreciate. Flowers enchant us, enthral us. They echo our clarion call of desire and delight, of bloom and beauty.
We humans often take a self-centred approach to nature. As lovers we sit in flower-laden parks looking doe-eyed at each other, the warmth of the sun kindling our amour. Yet, around us, the flowers have also donned their best to revel in their own dance of desire, beckoning their mates to procreate with them.
It’s easy to presume romance and flowers go hand in hand, as if love somehow smells heavenly, looks pretty, and provides us with the capacity to breathe easily and grow well.
But what of the sequel to romance, after the happy wedding, or beyond the pretty flowers? What about marriage, with its ups and downs, or of gardening, with its digging, pruning, weeding? Can we manage both the pleasant and the challenging?
We can. Gardening can help our relationships grow. Working with the Earth or taking time to admire its beauty can put us in a positive frame of mind, leaving us soothed, happy and open to harmonious relationships.
Watching a plant grow from a tiny package of DNA is a delight. Growing a new plant from a cutting is like performing magic. Finding plants have self-seeded is a lesson in reverence. Tending plants as they grow is a tonic. Sharing these with a loved one connects us at an deep and intimate level.
Relationships between friends can also grow in a garden’s sure grasp. Sharing a chat and a cup of tea as you feast your eyes on a garden is blissful. Swapping plants you’ve grown by seed or cuttings with fellow growers is an act of love. Rejuvenating a garden with a partner, housemate or friends is a sharing of something primal, a deep love of the way nature supports us, as we believe instead we are supporting nature.
And so it is that gardens and romance exist side by side. Let us all join joyfully in the slow dance together.
Joni Page 