Plants & Nature

I’ve always had a special connection to nature as I was raised around wonderful gardens of both flowers and garden crops.  My Memphis Grandmother had the most interesting back yard full of flowers and plants of all kinds.  The hydrangeas on the north side of her house were a special treat.  They were huge and blue and beautiful.  And she had a gardenia bush that seemed to be in constant bloom filling the neighborhood with that fragrant fresh smell that only a gardenia bush has.

But it was her house plants in the kitchen window and the way she just put clippings in a jar of water until the roots grew and she could plant it outside that always fascinated me the most.  My Tupelo Grandmother did not have houseplants, but oh did she ever have an outdoor garden full of beautiful roses, lilies and irises.  And for a long time she had a gardener named George who came and helped her work in her garden every day.  George would dig up the iris bulbs each fall and put them in paper sacks hung from the rafters in the basement waiting for spring to arrive again.  I’ve still got the dog eared copy of her composition book where she kept the records of everything in her flower garden.

In addition to that, we had fruit trees of all types in the yard and a real garden with rows of tomatoes, peas, corn, squash and many others things way out back.  Then there was my Dad’s hobby of growing orchids, which entailed a real greenhouse to hold them in the back yard.  And our neighbor to the east had a corn field in her back yard.  A man with a mule and plow came to plant it each spring.  The neighbors across the street raised chickens.  And we neighborhood kids liked to watch as their cook would wring the chicken’s neck as she began to prepare the chicken for Sunday dinner.  So I have been connected to nature for quite a long time.

Maybe that’s why my own house plants respond so well to me.  I have some in the window of my apartment that have been in continuous bloom since I moved in 12 years ago.  And an orchid a friend gave me years ago just continues to bloom and bloom.  Maybe my Dad’s spirit is helping it along.  It is also fascinating to watch the Christmas cactus a friend gave me several years ago bloom right on schedule each year. How does it know?

I wonder what kids today feel about nature when the closest they ever get to it is the supermarket.  Thankfully Farmers Markets are popping up everywhere these days.  If you have kids be sure to take them shopping with you there so they will understand that all food does not come wrapped in plastic.

We are all better off when we understand and honor our connection to nature.  When we learn that we can’t force nature to do what we want and that only by cooperating with nature are the best results obtained.  This is an important life lesson also as we deal with everything and everyone in our lives.  You can’t make another person like you or do what you want.  You can’t force your ideas on anyone.  Cooperation with them, however, will get the job done every time.

What Matters Most……….is to recognize ourselves as allies, co-creators, with the earth and the natural world. When we do, our relationship to our environment and to others begins to change. We no longer feel the need to control the circumstances around us and can relish in the perfection of all that already exists.

© 2013 #9 Jim High, President of the Southern Progressive Alliance for Exploring Religion

www.spafer.org / and can be reached by email at

highjim@gmail.com  or at P. O. Box 467, Tupelo, MS 38802-0467