Oh, Pennsylvania gardens in the summer! Lush, no other word, except perhaps, pyrotechnic, which our photographer Deb suggested when sending this picture. The greenery explodes, the color pops. “Look,” gardens cry. “Celebrate!” I love the way the spikes burst out of the ground in this photo.

Flowers and plants have their own reason for doing their dance, but we’re the happy recipients of their bounty and their beauty. Doesn’t matter if you’re a vegetable gardener, a flower gardener or, like me, simply a garden appreciator, there they are, gorgeous.

Gardens require a lot of labor. Feeding the world and dazzling us with delight takes tending. I’m so grateful for folks who do the work. I’ve been a dedicated apartment dweller my whole life… I live without dirt, because i pretty much break out in hives or poison ivy in the great outdoors… but that doesn’t mean i’m not dazzled or grateful.

Life. Wild and glorious. Mother Earth is bountiful. And too often we are careless stewards of this abundance. Our approach to such beauty should be reverent and tender.  Yesterday I had what i hope may turn out to have been a fruitful conversation about the benefits of boiling water vs roundup for a man beside himself because grass kept pushing up in his sidewalk.

This abundant garden is where we live. For our own sake, and for our Mother’s, why would we put poison on the ground? The Earth gives us life. Shouldn’t we, if we can’t conceive of giving life back, at least consider not poisoning what nurtures us? It seems very little to ask, especially when the world is exploding in bounty under our feet and fingertips.

You understand why painters paint and sketchers sketch and writers write, trying to embrace and honor the beauty. There are so many reasons I’m happy and lucky to live here… gardens are a pretty fabulous reason. Nature, let us be one with it. Let us be at Peace in it.