The busy days of summer fly by and we all find ourselves flitting about. For me, that involves visiting a few gardens in Italy while heading to a wedding and, with that in mind, I would like to share this poem by my friend the writer Lauretta Harris who is on the board of the Berkshire Botanical Garden and president of their volunteer organization. This poem shows her charm— one of the reasons so many people volunteer at the garden.
Getting Buzzed
How I admire the bee
Buzzing by me
Clearly on a mission
Of some importance.
Compare that to the flies
Just hanging around.
With nothing better to do
Than try to bite me.
Why can’t they learn from the bees
And find something worthwhile to do?
I ask the same question of myself
and go into the garden.
I hope that, like the Italian honeybee (the most gentle of honeybee varieties ,as I am told by an old friend) I am on a mission of some importance, but in reality I am most likely flitting about, taking in the summer for all it is worth. I promise to bite into nothing more than some al dente pasta and a scoop of gelato.
____________________________________
A gardener grows through observation, experimentation, and learning from the failures, triumphs, and hard work of oneself and others. In this sense, all gardeners are self-taught, while at the same time intrinsically connected to a tradition and a community that finds satisfaction through working the soil and sharing their experiences with one another. This column explores those relationships and how we learn about the world around us from plants and our fellow gardeners.
