So, We Garden… What does that mean?

Hi everyone!

Its #GardenIsShe2020-

I just wanted to present this statement, “We garden.” What exactly does this mean? When someone hears the word ‘garden’ or ‘gardener’ what comes to mind? Is it Grandma hoeing her flower garden or the public school planting in the community garden? Stereotypes conflict around gardening- homesteaders, grandmothers, and preservationists, are just a few of the most common. So, what does it mean by definition to garden?

The definition of garden is “a plot of ground where herbs, fruits, flowers, or vegetables are cultivated“, (Merriam-Webster). Thus implying, that a person who cultivates this garden for a given time, is a ‘gardener’. The given person is not bound by definition, to this garden exponentially- and can be a ‘gardener’ due to economics, hobby, profession, therapy, overall health, and many other notable reasons.

Various people can therefore garden in various ways. The ‘typical garden’ varies just as much as does the ‘typical gardener’. World-wide, there are flower gardens, vegetable gardens, tree gardens, herb gardens, and rock gardens- to name a couple. They range from formal to informal and bland to popping with variety, smell, taste, and color. Some gardens are done so out of necessity (ex. a need for food), while others are just for pleasure (ex. the sight and smell of botanical gardens). Then there is the organic vs. natural vs. fertilized branch-offs of gardening. At many times, the very definition of ‘garden’ is changed because of the variety found within its portals! For instance, has anyone heard of ‘ice gardens’?

As I have found, gardens are similar to music in many ways. There is classical Beethoven,  rock’n Elvis, awe-compelling Pentatonix, country-causing Patsy Kline, and others- yet all of them fall under the same roof of music. Thus is seen with gardening, there are various faces, methods, inputs, interests, styles, and cultures that go into it and yet in the end, nearly all can be categorized as gardens. Then again, humankind and our past-times of life seem to copy this method of subtopics and varieties in general.

So, we garden. Gardening to me is the same definition as art:

“It means whatever the artist intends it to mean, and this meaning is shaped by the materials, techniques, and forms it makes use of,” -Lumen Learning

 

God bless you and yours,

#GardenIsShe2020

 

Source:

Merriam-Webster, Definition of Garden;

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garden

Lumen Learning, What is Art?;

courses.lumenlearning.com › boundless-arthistory › chapter › what-is-art

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