Blooms, Herbs & Beyond

There are plenty of practical reasons to garden.

We grow vegetables to put fresh food on the table. We grow herbs for cooking and teas. We plant flowers for beauty and pollinators. We grow fruit, improve our landscapes, create habitats, and sometimes even increase the value of our homes.

But somewhere along the way, I realized there was another reason I garden.

I Garden Because It Brings Me Joy.

Not the loud, exciting kind of joy that comes with a major accomplishment. Gardening gives me something quieter.

It is the joy of walking outside in the morning and noticing that something bloomed overnight.

It is discovering a new shoot where yesterday there seemed to be nothing.

It is watching a bee move from flower to flower and realizing that, for a few minutes, I have completely forgotten whatever else was on my mind.

And sometimes, it is simply standing there looking at what is growing.

I Think This Joy Started Long Before I Knew It

When I think about where my love of gardening came from, I realize the seeds were planted in me a very long time ago.

My late dad loved gardening. He was always planting something, so growing things was simply part of the world I knew as a child.

But some of my sweetest memories come from the summers when my parents would send us to stay with my aunts and cousins who lived in the countryside. I could hardly wait for school to let out because, to me, summer meant going there.

It meant gardens. It meant flowers. It meant being outdoors, wandering around and taking in everything growing around me. I can still remember the simple pleasure of smelling the flowers and frolicking outside among the butterflies and bees, completely fascinated by all of it.

At the time, of course, I wasn’t thinking about pollinators, ecosystems, soil health or any of the things I would eventually learn about gardening. I was simply a little girl enjoying nature.

Looking back now, I realize those summers gave me something that stayed with me.

Maybe that’s why being in a garden still feels so natural to me. Maybe that’s why I can spend hours outside tending plants, observing insects, noticing trees or getting excited about the smallest new bloom.

Somewhere between watching my dad plant things and those carefree summers in the countryside, gardening became connected to something much deeper than growing plants.

It became connected to home, family, freedom, discovery and joy.

And all these years later, I’m still that girl who can lose track of time in a garden.

Only now, I understand why.

The Garden Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect

One of the things gardening has taught me is that everything doesn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful.

My garden has weeds. There are plants that don’t behave the way I expected them to. There are yellow leaves, mysterious holes, insects I have to investigate, plants that thrive and others that make me wonder what in the world I did wrong.

There are gardening ideas that work beautifully—and others that quietly become lessons for next year.

But that’s part of the joy.

A garden is alive. It changes constantly, and I have learned to enjoy watching those changes rather than expecting everything to look picture-perfect.

Some days I am the gardener. Other days I feel more like the student.

There Is Always Something to Discover

One of my favorite things about gardening is that I don’t think you ever completely finish learning it.

I can walk through the same yard I’ve walked through hundreds of times and suddenly notice something I haven’t noticed before.

A different insect. A volunteer plant. A new flower bud.

The way two plants have grown together. A bird visiting a part of the garden it normally ignores.

Even beyond my own backyard, I’ve discovered that gardening has changed the way I see the world.

I notice trees. I notice flowers growing along roadsides.

I notice interesting gardens when I’m out walking.

I notice plants in parks and landscaping around buildings.

Sometimes I stop and take a picture or a video because something simply caught my attention.

Gardening has made me more curious.

And I think curiosity is one of those wonderful things we should hold onto for as long as we possibly can.

Gardening Gives Us Permission to Slow Down

We live in a world that constantly tells us to hurry.

Do more. Finish faster. Move on to the next thing.

The garden doesn’t operate that way.

You can plant a seed today, but you cannot demand that it become a flower tomorrow.

You can water it. You can give it good soil. You can place it where it receives the light it needs. You can care for it.

But eventually, you have to wait, and you have no choice.

Gardening reminds me that not everything worthwhile happens quickly.

Sometimes the work is simply showing up consistently and trusting that something is happening even when we can’t see it yet.

There is something wonderfully peaceful about that.

Some of My Happiest Moments Are Very Small Ones

Gardening joy doesn’t always arrive as a spectacular harvest or a garden overflowing with flowers. Sometimes it’s much smaller.

Cutting a handful of herbs that I grew myself.

Seeing the first blueberry ripen.

Finding a pollinator on a flower I planted specifically for them.

Harvesting something I’ve never grown before.

Discovering that a plant I thought was finished has decided otherwise.

Standing outside after the rain and seeing how refreshed everything looks.

Or simply walking around the garden with absolutely no agenda.

Those moments would probably look insignificant to someone passing by.

But gardeners understand. We know how exciting one tiny tomato can be when you’ve watched it grow from a flower. We know why we’ll call someone outside to look at a new bloom. We know why we’ll take twelve pictures of the same plant because this morning it finally opened.

That’s gardening joy!

The Garden Gives Back in Ways We Don’t Always Expect

When we start a garden, we usually think about what we’re going to grow. What I don’t think we always realize is what the garden may grow in us.

Patience. Curiosity. Resilience. Creativity. Appreciation. The willingness to try again.

Gardening has a wonderful way of reminding us that something not working the first time doesn’t mean we failed.

Sometimes the soil wasn’t right. Sometimes the weather didn’t cooperate. Sometimes we planted in the wrong place. Sometimes we simply didn’t know what we know now.

So we learn. We adjust. And next season, we try again.

That’s not only a gardening lesson. That’s a life lesson.

Your Garden Can Be Whatever Brings You Joy

I think sometimes people hesitate to call themselves gardeners because they don’t have a large garden or an impressive landscape.

I don’t believe gardening requires either one.

Your garden might be a backyard filled with flowers and vegetables.

It might be three pots of herbs sitting on a patio.

It might be a tomato plant on a balcony.

It might be houseplants lined across a sunny window.

It might even begin with one little pot containing one little plant that you’re determined to keep alive.

There is no minimum requirement for experiencing the joy of growing something. And there isn’t one correct way to garden.

Plant what makes you happy. Grow what interests you.

Experiment. Change your mind. Move things around. Try something you’ve never grown before.

And every now and then, instead of immediately looking for the next gardening job that needs to be done, just stand there. Look around. Notice what has changed. Notice what is blooming. Notice what survived. Notice what surprised you.

And remember that you helped create this little piece of living beauty.

Maybe That’s the Real Harvest

Of course, I love harvesting things from my garden.

Herbs. Fruit. Vegetables. Flowers.

But I’ve started to think that perhaps the most valuable harvest isn’t always something we can carry into the house.

Sometimes the harvest is peace. Sometimes it’s wonder. Sometimes it’s the satisfaction of watching something thrive because we cared for it.

Sometimes it’s getting our hands dirty and forgetting about everything else for a while.

Sometimes it’s realizing that after all these years, there are still new things capable of making us stop and say,

“Well, would you look at that.”

And perhaps that’s one of the greatest gifts a garden can give us.

It keeps us looking. It keeps us learning. It keeps us hopeful.

And if we’re fortunate enough to experience a little joy along the way, I’d say that’s a pretty wonderful reason to keep gardening.

Until next time, keep growing—and don’t forget to enjoy what you’re growing.

Blooms, Herbs & Beyond — The Garden Journal