Everythng I know about working in the yard I learned from my many years in the Horticultural School of Hard Knocks. Here I majored in Trial and Error Gardening, under the watchful eye of Professor Sunshine. I've taken all the basic classes... Building Stone Walls 101, Intro to Sod Flipping, Advanced Bug Squashing, Hose Wrestling (with a lab), etc. Like many Midwest gardeners, I've done some things right and others, not so right. I've worked through heat, cold, humidity, freezing rain, and rasty midwest winds. At the end of each session, I passed. Eventually, I even graduated. For some reason, however, I just can't bring myself to leave campus.
I suppose, I will be one of those "perpetual students", those people who never seem to get sick of school, who never move on. Why is that? What is the reason I bother with new perennial varieties? What is so thoroughly rewarding about pulling tenancious weeds? Why am I glad there is no end to deadheading? What would happen to me if I could not get my hands dirty on a regular basis?
I suppose it's because somehow, this all works together to feed my soul.
If you are like me, you don't care about getting dirty. You're not concerned about your hair, nails or filthy knees. You have worn out the tips of more gloves than you can possibly count. Your most precious possession is your dandelion digger. You appreciate the shade of an old sugar maple. You can't wait for the lily of the valley to bloom in May. You can identify "Lambs Ear" with your eyes closed. A stand of Sycamores in fall can give you reason to pause. You adore the Ginko's golden carpet.
You are at your very core, very simply and forever, a gardener.
Sincerely,
Ann
That IS you, Ann!
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