Mindful Gardening Newsletter No 18
Mindful Gardening Newsletter No 18
It’s a cool morning here in Cordressagagh. I listen to the call of the Cuckoo and sit between the two cats Sparkle and Professor Toffington who have joined me and lie sprawled out on the bench on either side of me. Each is jealous of any attention I give the other but for the moment they are at peace.
Sitting Silently
Buddha amongst the Foxgloves
As we three sit silently on the bench I see the starling with a heap of straw in her mouth. She must be mending the nest she has in the eaves of this cottage for some reason.
Sitting quietly, doing nothing, Spring comes, and the grass grows, by itself. ― Basho
The longer I live the more I recognize the value of just sitting and being silent. I am committed to sitting silently each day in the garden for a period with my pen in hand before the blank page that aches for a theme that is Timeless (Neil Diamond).
So, this week we bought two more benches that were on sale, and they now grace the St. Bridget’s Garden. I can see myself buying more benches for the other garden rooms. More people are being drawn to this garden and it is lovely to be able to sit together eating ice cream or drinking cups of tea or coffee.
One bench is in the sun and the other under the arch between the two small trees. This gives much needed shade on a hot day. I love to sit there and tonight I spent time pulling together another set list while playing on the white guitar.
The value of silence in the garden lies in its ability to restore harmony, both externally with nature and internally within ourselves. It offers a retreat from the chaos, a place where we can slow down, breathe deeply, and simply be. In embracing this silence, you can discover a profound source of nourishment for the soul, a quiet reminder of the simple joys and deep wisdom that the natural world generously provides.
The nearest thing to God is silence – Meister Eckhart
St. Bridget’s Garden
Various Assistant Gardeners sitting in the shade.
One of my favorite places in this garden in Cordressagagh is the St. Bridget’s Garden which is that part of the garden beginning to mature. It is centered around the idea of a walled garden. The walls are beginning to become a combination of rambling roses and sweet pea. The word “Paradise” translates as “Walled Garden.”
It has four arches. On one arch I plan to have the jasmine climb up. At the back there is the ancient bog oak with a mixture of Paddy’s Pride ivy and honeysuckle twinning itself along the high bamboo cane fence.
I tend to sit there a lot now while either drafting stories or playing new song lists for performance at our monthly singalong at the local pub in Glenfarne or supporting the STOP program in our area.
What I love about this garden which Jenny mentioned to Bee and I yesterday is that it is ever changing. This is very much the case with St. Bridget’s Garden. The daffodils and tulips have gone. The Ladies Mantle is spreading as is the ajuga. The foxgloves and the lilies are beginning to flower. The hardy fuchsia by the archway is coming back and the jasmine that I thought was dead is putting out shoots.
The mixture of Geum ‘Sangria’ (Red) and geranium ‘Johnson’s Blue’ is stunning and the phacelia which the bees adore, and which creates a real “Bee Loud Glade” (Lake Isle of Innisfree - W. B. Yeats) is beginning to grow although I spread it too thickly.
The Mindful Gardener reads his mother’s favorite poem.
Yesterday Bee planted up the sweet pea that will create the wall of perfumed flowers. She also planted up the five hollyhock roots that I bought from Farmer Gracy. These will grow five feet high and be supported by the bamboo canes. Today I will tie up the rambling rose that is beginning to grow away from the bamboo cane supports. Overall, it’s going to look gorgeous and smell sensational.
I will be graced to sit in silence and take it all in and say, “Thank you.”
Tending the Inner Garden
Silence is the place of the inner garden. What I plant in the inner garden is what will manifest in the outer garden of this life of time and form. This is the wisdom of the saying, “As you sow so shall you reap.”
As the Mindful Gardener I sow in the dark and in the silence of the morning and the evening. More than this I allow what is to be seeded from Divine Intention to be seeded as and when. It KNOWS how to express LIFE as me and through me better than I do. So, in the words of a Beatle lyric, I practice how to “Let it Be.”
Most of what people seed within is by way of personal thought driven by the nature of duality and by way of opposites and opposition. Trusting, allowing and heart centered focus is the way of unity within.
Mindful Gardening Practice
In the garden I practice looking with gratitude, with love and with an eye to celebrating this sacred space not only for myself but for anyone who steps into it.
I have taken up what might be called Zen photography. It is a way of looking and seeing. I am called to become someone who lives with a full moon in each eye (Hafiz). This is living with an eye for the experience of Presence that lights up the dark.
I wish I could show you, when you are lonely or in darkness, the Astonishing Light of your own Being! Hafiz
I get to see the glint of the sunlight on the crystal hanging on the arch that is one of the entrances to the St. Bridgit’s garden. I see the gleam of the dewdrop on the leaf of the Ladies Mantle. I hear the buzz of the bees as they crawl into the fairy caps that are flowering on the foxgloves.
This is mindful gardening that is sensational.
The Bee Loud Glade Seating
At the back of this cottage in Cordressagh we now have a rattan setting set. The cushions need to have a rain resistant covering so that they don’t continually get saturated with the rainfall.
Jenny, who is our four year old assistant head gardener’s mum suggested we buy some shower curtains which she will turn into covers. So, we went looking for shower covers with bees on them. This is a theme I love to incorporate into images and objects that are very much a part of this garden.
One other idea I want to explore is to have rainbow hammock tied to the trees that are in Stewarts Grove. I love to nap during the day, and it might be nice to pop into a hammock when it’s a warm day.
I Listen to the Windchimes.
I listen to the Wind to the Wind in my Soul – Cat Stevens
This week we spent time helping Claire clear the home that our beloved Woodland Bard lived in and who died earlier this month. It broke my heart losing him. We had a lovely time with her sharing fond memories of our favorite bard.
We now have windchimes and suncatchers that were his and I will be hanging these of the arches in the garden. We now have small percussion instruments that will now be part of the children’s program in our local village Arts Centre on Culture Night here in Ireland.
There are also some silver bells which were sent to him by an admirer who asked if he would hang them in the trees in his beloved tree labyrinth. Now these bells will be tied in the tree grove that is Stewart’s Grove in Cordressagagh.
This garden continues to become a garden of remembrance of people who I have loved and spent time in community and communion. This is what a garden should be or at least have as an aspect.
Conclusion
This morning the assistant head gardener (four years old) is due to visit. We were planting toad lilies together yesterday and she wanted to know what a toad was. So, I told her that they are handsome Princes in disguise and that she mustn’t kiss them because they will stay around and take a lot of feeding.
That’s this week’s edition of the Mindful Gardening Newsletter. I hope you found it of interest and gives you some ideas about creating a garden where you can embrace and unfold the stillness and thankfulness that is seeded within you. Let yourself become a blooming magnificent Companion of Greatness and feast on your life. Happy gardening.