Tell Us About . . . Blooming: Wherever You're Planted

What do I know about blooming? I love flowers, but I know very little about gardening, and it's certainly not a pastime I enjoy. I've always avoided gardening when possible, to tell the truth. For more than twenty years we lived in a house with a large yard that had lots of potential for gardens, but I didn't know how to do the work (and had little interest in learning), my husband didn't have time, and we didn't want to spend money on having someone else do it. The result was the simplest possible landscape design, largely untamed and wild. I actually loved it though. 

Now we live in an apartment community which means we don't have a yard and we're limited in what we can plant and where. I have mixed feelings about this, because I'm totally fine with not having to tend a garden or mow a lawn, but on the other hand, I don't really have any place for hanging basket either. Just yesterday we visited the garden center at my husband's greenhouse and despite how much I liked some of the planters and flowers, I knew we wouldn't be able to plant them in the ground (so the hydrangeas weren't a good choice) and we don't have a shaded spot for plants (so several planters I liked wouldn't do well). So I adjust my expectations, and I requested plants that would work better in the sunny spot in front of my door.

I absolutely love walking through conservatories and gardens and enjoying all the different flowers and plants in creative and beautifully manicured plantings and designs. And it's always been a treat to walk through a greenhouse and see row upon row of pansies or begonias or poinsettias. It makes my soul happy to enjoy all the beautifully blooming plants, well-tended and thriving.

Tending plants myself doesn't make me happy, and doesn't always lead to the plants themselves thriving. So for the past several years my solution has been to buy myself a cheap bouquet (usually on clearance!) every week or two so I can always have fresh flowers blooming in my dining room. Are they still blooming after they've been cut? I'm not sure, but they bring me joy and cheer.

So . . . what do I know about blooming? Upon reflection, my experiences in how I find ways to enjoy flowers even though I don't have a green thumb or a place to indulge it seem related to the popular saying, "Bloom where you're planted". Sometimes it's easy for us to bloom where we are planted, when we have excellent growing conditions and are surrounded by family and friends and familiar community and everything needed to thrive. At other times it's more difficult to bloom where we're planted for a variety of reasons. Stressful or toxic situations, less than ideal "sun and soil and water", neglect, pests, and many other circumstances can make it hard for us to bloom.

For me, just as I had to do when picking out a planter that would do well in the growing conditions here, I've had to adjust my expectations for what blooming might look like. Blooming means keeping a positive attitude, grateful for all the good things in life. Blooming means choosing joy and doing my best to bring goodness to those around me. Blooming means making the best of things and trusting that God will use it all for my good and his glory, even when I don't understand it right now.

Mostly, though, I dream of good things . . . I dream that flowers will bloom in the streets again and music will play in the houses and kites will fly in the skies. ~Khaled Hosseini

There are always flowers for those who want to see them. ~Henri Matisse

Where flowers bloom so does hope. ~Lady Bird Johnson

Some of this post is adapted from an earlier article, WQ - Music and Blooms, which first appeared on A Fresh Cup of Coffee in February 2024

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Tell Us About . . . is a monthly opportunity for bloggers to showcase their creativity. Each month one of the co-hosts will choose the word to focus on. On the third Thursday of every month we'll respond to the prompt "Tell Us About ---" which could be absolutely anything. And how we respond is also wide open. It could be a blog post with our opinions or reminscences; a poem, photos, a short story or whatever takes your fancy―it could even be a mix of all these! This month's theme, chosen by Sue at Women Living Well After 50, is "Blooming"

This post is linked at Deb's World

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