© Linda Wiggen Kraft
The weather outside may be cold and frightful, but inside I’m taking part in my annual ritual of dreams for a summer garden. I choose one of the coldest days of winter. I make a cup of tea and sit down with the foot tall pile of catalogs and the lists I have compiled through the years of all the things I would love in my garden. The catalogs have been arriving in the mail for at least a month. The lists are from trips to friend’s gardens, public gardens and those I see as I peek over the gate. I make lists with my friends as we talk about all those flowers we love. My longest list is the one I have been compiling with Cheryl who owns my favorite flower shop. Since early last year we have making a list of flowers we want to grow. Each week I stop in her shop and she shows me new amazing flowers, twigs and branches that her discerning eye finds in the wholesale markets. Some of these amazing plants grow locally in our crazy mid western climate, others are from the far reaches of the earth. But we don’t care where they come from we just know we want them all in our gardens.
I begin my dreaming ritual by imaging the perfection of a summer garden where the weather is warm, fragrant and breezy. The sky is blue and the sun shines softly on the flowers, foliage and fruit. In my dream I have a farm with acres and acres of land and boundless energy so I can grow each and every flower that calls to me and is on my seemingly endless list. I then go through all my catalogs and lists and mark those things I want. I choose hundreds of seed packages, bare root plants and plants in pots that I want. It takes hours but each moment is filled with joy as I imagine being in the presence of each of these images of perfection.
I then take a small break and begin the process of infusing reality into this dream. I know what I really want is the same feeling I get when I imagine the garden. I know that one flower alone can fill my heart with joy and surrender. I know the feelings of gratitude, love, joy, ecstasy, connection, calmness, and completeness are what I get out of gardening and these feelings are the reason I garden. With that knowledge I begin to narrow my choices.
First I realize I don’t really need the farm, my city size garden will do. I realize I have hundreds if not thousands of plants already. I realize I don’t have boundless energy or money. So with the embrace of my life’s parameters and the desire to grow the feelings I want from my garden I again choose what seeds and plants I will get. I narrow my choices and use my feelings as my guide.
For gratitude and love any flowering plant will do. Each flower is a mandala that takes me to heaven. This these feelings I will buy seeds of the large red flowering texas star hibiscus coccineus, trumpet flowered ballerina purple datura with its evening fragrance, and purple dahlia zinnia. For joy and ecstasy I will plant vines of passion flower and ceremonial hopi rattle gourds that will grow on the fence. For connection to the other creatures that share the garden I will plant purple majesty millet for the birds, butterfly weed asclepias curassavica, bronze fennel and parsley for the butterflies. And for calmness and completeness I will plant borage which gives the heart courage, and a lotus which in its amazing beauty symbolizes the fullness of life.