There is a certain lightheartedness of the garden which is important to respect when planning, planting or even weeding.  I have found in my wanderings that the more gardens are analyzed, controlled and forced, the less they inspire. The human tendency to exact a garden to the nth degree can lead to a stiff and uninspired feeling.

It’s kind of like the soufflé where you keep opening the oven door on and it goes flat; or the gardenia that you touch over and over turning the leaves brown; or the docile sweet puppy that you pass around and pet over and over til it’s exhausted and nervous.  The garden does not like to be worried over and picked at.

The garden just wants to be met with a light heart. We work from space and the natural affinity for plants to grow where they are happy and in the space they need.  We ask for the poetic license to shift a plant a foot or two, tap around the smaller plants here or there or add or take away one or two depending on how it looks. If a lovely columbine pops up in a stone wall or under a bench, the leave it. What’s not to like? If a kousa dogwood doesn’t like the clay soil even amended and won’t leaf out- fine let’s pick another tree. We try to listen, and not fight Natures “City Hall”.

So my attitude is when working in a garden just follow your intuition.  Do it with a happy heart, and with the thought that the plant just likes being with you, however you plop it in the ground.  Use tender hands and tell it how happy you are to have it with you. Pick that lovely flower. Pull that random weed. Water the plant you think is dry.  Get your hands dirty.   Blend your soul with Nature’s and enjoy its gifts.

Christie lives in Manakin Sabot , Virginia where she manages a 3 acre garden. Her blogs are written from her 35 years as a personal and professional gardener.