right plant, right place

ever since i was a little girl, my space has been filled with green... spider plants and wandering jewels dripping from shelves. sansevieria sending sharp daggers toward ceilings. grape ivys, philodendrons, and pothos draping from strategically placed hooks.

back then they all had names. the big spider plant was charlotte, the sansevieria, irving (after another sansevieria in a gardening book i'd read). the neanthe bella palm was nathan. today's plants also have names, but they are latin and much harder to pronounce. (except for the sansevieria who is still called irving.)

since those early days, i have had gardens wherever i've gone. sometimes in tiny pots on narrow windowsills. sometimes, when i've been very lucky, actually in the ground. but until recently, i kept most of my plants portable, because, until recently, i never had a piece of dirt to call my own. i was only borrowing. but not anymore.

now i have a house. and that house has a yard. a yard filled with possibilities (and weeds). and i work in that yard every chance i get -- pulling weeds, planting bushes, trimming trees, building trellises. and i've realized that i no longer want this gardening thing to be something i do only on weekends or when i can fit it in. i want it to be my life. because right now, i am like the wrong plant in the wrong place, spending my days commuting to a cubicle to create vapor. i need to do something real. to put my hands into the earth and help bring forth life. to undo some of the ecological damage my very existence has inflicted on our planet. but mostly to ground myself. to sink my roots. and hopefully to help others sink theirs.