July / August 1997

This space is more soapbox than pulpit-I'll leave the sermonizing to my brother the minister. It usually doesn't touch on the connectedness of the world we live in and the presence (or lack) of a higher spiritual being. But the more we come to understand the myriad life relationships that shape our gardens, the more it becomes apparent, at least to me, that a higher hand has had an influence here.

For those of us who profess to being Christians, the book that nourishes our faith opens in a garden. It speaks of a beautiful world that God created, reason enough to want to do my small part to thank this being by bringing beauty and abundance to my little corner of that world.

One recent Sunday, Rev. Bill Hoglund's sermon title caught my eye immediately: "That's Another Vine Mess You've Gotten Me Into." Then the children's sermon demonstrated a branch that was no longer attached to its tree. The scripture reading went to John 15 where Jesus said: "I am the real vine, and my father is the gardener. He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit."

The sermon opened with the minister pretending to mow his yard, fretting over the pumpkins that had outgrown their appointed space and the inevitable vines that were severed in the mowing process. While bemoaning his transgression, he instructed us that we are capable of producing fruit as long as we are part of the vine of God. "When we are attached, the fruit that we produce, indeed the prosperity of the land itself, comes to us naturally-as a gift of God."

As he went on, he explained briefly about the growth of plants, then told the congregation they might pick up a copy of this magazine if they wanted to know more about that part. The person next to me leaned over and asked, "Did you pay to get that plug in there?" I would never be so devious.

Religion and gardening have a lot in common. God works in ways that are not always clear to us. Plants grow in places we never put them and sometimes into our lawns. The beliefs of many are not shared by those in the next place of worship. Similarly, when we seek an answer to how to make our rose grow, we'll get a plethora of advice, much of which applies but no one method is guaranteed to bring us success. We need to stay connected to that vine-in this case, of learning about gardening and applying it to our homes and gardens.

There are no homespun signs in my garden. In a good year, there may be a few markers to help remember plant names. Perhaps this is the year I should invest in that one sign you see in many garden centers: "When I'm in the garden, I am closer to God than anywhere else on Earth."

Writing about gardening can become a painful task, literally, as it was for Annette Roos with this issue. Annette finished her cover story on shade gardening a week before undergoing surgery to repair tendon damage in her right wrist. She says she is laid up for the gardening season, but may be able to work left-handed on some things. We'll keep her busy reading what we hope will be voluminous entries in our Gardening in Small Spaces Contest. That deadline is Aug. 8 and all the rules are on page 67 of this issue.

If you're a regular reader, you may have noticed Kate Jerome's column (March/April) about taking her toddler into the garden with her. Now she and husband Kurt have a new little girl to garden with, Carly Eliza. Congratulations.