Why do we garden? Most gardeners can create a ready list of reasons: to grow food, create beauty, keep fit, be in nature, etc. These are true -- but they only reflect our surface intentions. I am interested in the deeper motivations that push normal people to become dedicated or even compulsive gardeners.
To create a garden, to grow and arrange, is as much an inner activity as an outer one. We mold and sculpt the raw material of our gardens into a reflection of our yearnings and desires. Some of these desires are ego-driven. We want to create something extraordinary to command the admiration of the crowd -- even if that crowd is only ourself.
As I garden, I sometimes glimpse a hidden audience who look through my eyes and evaluate what I am doing. This can be helpful; it provides an objective evaluation of what I am trying to achieve. It can also have the darker aspects of competitive criticism. The inner audience is judging me. Without noticing, I start to gardening for these phantom others rather than myself. I become more concerned with how things look rather than how they feel. I forget to ask the plants their opinion.
Why do you garden? Please let us know.
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