The Garden At Rock Cottage with Lance Brilliantine

One Perspective

Gardening is a restoring endeavor. It invigorates, excites and relaxes at the same time. When I lounge or work in the garden, I always feel connected to the essence of life around me.

In my mind, August is a particularly rewarding month - garden plants have matured, containerized tropicals are in their glory and the weather is balmy and reflects the intensity of summer.

Myriad thoughts surface at this time of year and I sometimes imagine myself in one of those ancient, famous, mythical gardens, even though I never leave East Hampton. Sometimes I reflect on the consistencies I see in gardening and everything else I do. Wasn't that one of the points in Edward Albee's play Tiny Alice? The macrocosms and microcosms of existence are around us and in harmony.

Lounging in the garden, I had the thought that gardens are much like offices. Having worked in corporations for the last 35 years, I believe frameworks, structures and experiences in the garden are parallel to those of office. Let me explain my thinking.

I applaud those wonderful, loyal garden plants we call perennials. Without them, the garden would be much more unpredictable. I can always rely on my rudbeckia, for example, to be there every year and to always perform consistently. Offices, I think, have people that perform that way - always consistent, reliable, always there to help. I rely on my perennials the same way I have grown to rely on some of my colleagues. These plants and people make a workplace tolerable.

Of course, there are the garden oddities - those quirky plants that just don't seem to belong anywhere but that add a certain garden flair. It might be a certain color hosta, hybrid clematis or a hibiscus. I am reminded of an office assistant I once worked with. Her name was Mina and she had been a ballerina in her prime. When I knew her, at the age of 80, she was still full of energy and working full time in the office. What an odd creature she was, with her rose-oil perfume that offended everyone, her quirky spirit and girlish, caring laugh. As in the garden, it is the quirky things that add some life and tolerance and are most missed - as I miss Mina.

Any successful garden has its few, dazzling specimens - those plants that inspire, stand out and represent a garden theme of greatness. Some lilies and roses can do that. These specimens are like those few, dazzlingly talented individuals I have met at work who are able to take center stage easily and naturally, to lead and to inspire. It is just their nature! Oh, if only the world had some examples now of such people. We might all benefit from inspired leadership just now.

In any garden, as in any office, there are always a few unsuspected weeds. Like crabgrass and nightshade, they appear from nowhere and seem tractable and mild at first - often putting on the disguise of lovely flowers. Ultimately, they turn out to be invasive, recalcitrant and dangerous, and seek to take over and push other plants aside. I have known some people in the office just like that. These divisive individuals seem like team players at the start, but turn out to be aggressive and consuming at the last.

Where would we be without garden annuals? These are the plants that are a "flash in the pan." They grow quickly, bloom quickly and then are gone, spreading their beauty in a season. They just seem to disappear when the season or environment change. I have witnessed these same "annual" people in every office I have worked - those individuals that come and grow quickly and then move on. Sometimes fleeting beauty and talent are of value.

One of the more important things I have learned from gardening is patience. I know the joy of seeing things mature over time, of watching how the environment changes as plants grow and spread and react to the environment. Maturity can be rewarding. I have learned this in the office, too, where I have worked with a few, calm, tranquil sages over the years. Unlike popular sentiments these days, it suggests that age might offer some rewards that it takes time to grasp.

Ultimately, it is consistency across our lives that will bring satisfaction, just as the rhythms of my garden and my work succor my sprit.

You can contact Lance Brilliantine with any questions or comments at GardenLance@yahoo.com.

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