Have you ever considered why you garden? If you are like me, you are addicted to plants in an inevitable bond that will last a lifetime. Please, I am not suggesting a drug addiction. Drug addicts have succumbed to plants - utterly - like the famed Lotus Eaters of mythology. Rather, I refer to something more compelling and often overlooked, which is our complete dependence on plants for existence and enjoyment.

On a recent trip to Paris, I met crisp, wintry air and gray-cast skies. The skeletal outlines of trees in the Tuillerie Gardens painted the outline of human servitude to plants, where there is strong evidence that plants have enticed us with their tending, feeding, moving, planting and pruning. In return, they give us life. Of course, the French – probably more than other cultures (except maybe for the British and Japanese) – have a special relationship with plants and spend enormous sums of money and effort in their nurture. A stroll through a Parisian flower market attested to the fact that people spend more on flowers than they do on contributions to the poor. The hotel lobby where I stayed, for example, had hundreds of red amaryllis on display. They were changed every other day.

Things have not changed in a very long time, but they are changing now. Scientists believe the first plants appeared on land about a half billion years ago. And today, plants account for the largest proportion of the earth’s biomass. The diversity of plants is staggering, from gigantic redwoods to microscopic species, which all help to make the lives of animals, fungi and other organisms possible. Plants provide oxygen, shelter and the foundation of the food web. They affect the traits of the organisms that depend on them in a huge variety of habitats. Specialized species of animal, dependent on specialized plants, die out when the plants do. Plant beauty, fragrance, and amazing elegance fascinates and brings intellectual and aesthetic pleasure to all of us. Personally, they ground me in reality and contribute to wonderful flights of fantasy.

Sadly, the world’s rainforests are disappearing at the staggering rate of 80 acres per minute, both day and night. It is factual that climatic and other environmental changes are underway because of rainforest destruction and we keep on and on, despite awareness of approaching doom. I get angry every time I hear lobbyists refute the idea of climatic change in favor of a few constituencies that apparently relish money and power more than life.

There are about three million square miles of rainforests left in the world and only 23% of these are considered virgin. Of the estimated species that once existed, only about 57% remain. Every day, humans eradicate an average of about 580 species that will never come again. This equals about one species extinction every two minutes.

In addition to killing things that potentially provide cures for cancer and other diseases, the destruction of rainforests increases carbon dioxide and promotes the greenhouse effect. This adds to the effect of burning of fossil fuels. This combined effect is raising temperatures worldwide and contributing to such phenomena as the melting of ice caps. It is common knowledge that polar bears are succumbing to this change and moving toward extinction. Sea levels are beginning to rise and there is increasing worldwide flooding and severe weather.

It is my thought that, with the expectation of an estimated world population of ten billion by 2050, the destruction will continue, unimpeded. Oh, I probably will enjoy the warming winters as they come along and it is unlikely that in my remaining years I will see the last polar bear or panda. Yet, I am concerned for the children and animals that may follow.

With these dismal predictions, can there be a more compelling reason to conserve nature; to make a garden; and to nurture everything the environment holds dear?

My spring garden is waiting somewhere close around the corner. The smells and acts of love by pistil and stamen will continue on as long as I am able to witness them. Recognizing that plants are responsible for everything we hold dear, I will continue to do what I can to garden and to promote renewed awareness, even if it is a single voice against powerful forces.

In a world where honor seems to have become a tattered flag on a withering stick, sensitivity toward nature and the cultivation of flowers and plants sure seems to be an agenda item for every human being.

The Garden At Rock Cottage

Flower Power – A Reason to Garden