Little by Little

Every May, Melissa asks me over to her house for lunch. But first, we stroll around her gardens, and i give her ideas for what to plant where or what to move where. Her backyard is quite shady, and when i first went, she was frustrated by the underperformance of the full-sun plants she loves.

Sweet Woodruff

She first focused on her backdoor garden and soon had a lovely calm shade garden with hosta, hellebore, and bloodroot.

This year, her front door garden is stunning with a sweet
woodruff ground cover.

I drove into her driveway, parked beside her car, and looked across the yard to a colorful, partially sunny wet spot. Delightful.

Poco a poco, little by little, Melissa becomes happier with her various flower beds.

Over time, we can focus on different themes in our meditation: breath, hearing, sensations of the body, loving-kindness, or any of the hundred meditations in my book The Meditative Gardener. One by one, our inner meditation garden becomes richer and deeper.

And our meditation becomes a pleasure.

Photo from wiseacre-garden.com