Food for the Body. Food for the Soul

Yes. Just this week I've watched one group of irises start blooming three or four more each day. Now they are all in bloom.

@bagarad

It can be relaxing, unless pests are causing stress. I do like that it gets me outdoors and active.

@LadyDuck The ground squirrels made gardening miserable. Every morning a new tomato plant had been chopped off at the ground. I didn't even want to look, and I didn't know how to fight them.

@bagarad I agree that pests and hail can cause stress.

@bagarad Out of your own garden or off your own tree is so much better!

Irises don't last too long, either, nor do the daffodils. Most flowers share their beauty for only a brief time. The rose, though, is more generous. I miss having a peach tree. Store-bought fruit just can't compare.

@Ithink My dad had a plum tree in our garden when I was growing up. No plum has tasted as good since those days.

I went to a grafting workshop, but my grafts weren't successful. I don't have much room in my garden for experiments, but I would have liked to try it.

@mom210 I am also interested in botany, but didn't dare major in it because I knew I'd never make it through organic chemistry.

@bagarad I think I will take her to the library and let her see hat she can figure out.

I love irises. Right now almost all of them are blooming. Some have finished, and everything else is budding and about to bloom.

@mlgen1037 Smelling them is even better than seeing them.

@bagarad Beautiful. I would like to wake up seeing those budding irises in my garden.

Can you not plant a few things in pots on a porch?

@Jessabuma I want to get an aloe vera plant. I have lots of roses.

@bagarad I only planting roses and aloe vera plants

I spent the first third of my live in Los Angeles County. I never saw a snake around any house there, but I lived in the suburbs. .

A money plant? Could you explain more about that?

@bagarad I think it's a common name of the "Lunaria" plant

@LadyDuck I've never seen one of those. I just looked it up and they are pretty.

@bagarad It is the lack of interest that bothers me specially where one has the facility for gardening.

@allknowing Maybe people love their screens too much to get outside.

Many people have never experienced having a garden. We have many single parents here who have too much else to do. Others live where there is nowhere to plant anything. Others, sadly, just have no interest. I think part of what's wrong with the world is that people are too far removed from the growing process and nature. I think we were meant to participate in that process. Farmers and gardeners must depend on weather and seasons and fight pests and weeds. This makes most realize how dependent they are on God, who controls weather and seasons. Gardening also provides food for thought as we do fight the enemies of the garden. Gardening often brings certain Scriptures to mind, such as parables about the wheat and the tares, and how the farmer must be patient. It also offers the solitude to think and meditate.

Flowers certainly can lift one's spirits. Each flower sends me a different message, it seems.

That's funny! I can't grow anything inside. My only plants that thrive are the ones outside. I think God takes care of them in his own way.

@bagarad Yes, he does.

Those holly bushes can take up a lot of space. I only have one, but it's large.

Beautiful. I think I have one that was pretty close to that color. It just finished blooming, so I can't go check it. I haven't edited my photo to uploading size yet and I'm about to go to bed.

I'm partial to irises. I think it may be my favorite flower.