THE PERFECT MICRO CLIMATE THAT FOSTERS BLOOMING

My variegated Dracaena is blooming for the first time. A first-grade teacher gave it to me 7 years ago after i spent the school year as a volunteer in her classroom once a week helping children learn to read. That 5-inch plant is now 5 feet tall, so last summer I placed it beside my front door in the white garden. Its green-and-white leaves added interested to the shady and therefore mostly leafy flowerbed.

This particular plant seems to like to be wet, so I put it in a glazed flowerpot that had no hole in the bottom. Then it rained for 25 days in June and another 25 days in July. The flowerpot overflowed with water.

The Dracaena was so well camouflaged among the variegated Solomon's seal that I nearly forgot to bring it indoors. Then I "saw" it in early October and hurried it into the solarium. Now, for the first time in its life, it's blooming.

We all need the right conditions for our meditation practice to bloom. Some of us need to be inundated--perhaps by going on long retreats; some, like geraniums, need the soil to dry out in between waterings. I like to meditate in the wee hours of the morning; others prefer afternoons or evenings. I like study AND practice; others prefer mostly practice; and those with a sporadic practice obtain deep benefit from studying in a weekly class.

It takes time to discover our own perfect microclimate that fosters our own blooming.