The previous owner of the home we now live in was a master gardener. The backyard was beautifully landscaped, including a butterfly garden and a plot for a vegetable garden. I was so excited to have a space for gardening. However, it didn’t take long after moving in to realize that it required a lot of work to maintain a master garden. And here I, someone who had never been able to keep a houseplant alive, was suddenly in charge of tending these gardens.
One day early in my gardening journey, my mother-in-law was visiting, and thankfully she happens to be well versed in the knowledge of plants and gardening. As we investigated the various plants in the butterfly garden, I mentioned my anxiety over not knowing what each plant was and how best to “weed” and tend the garden. She responded, “Don’t worry so much about labeling the plant a weed or flower. Instead, consider if that particular plant is adding beauty to the space. If it’s beautiful, if you love it, if it adds value to the garden, let it grow. If it distracts, crowds out other plants, or doesn’t work in that space, pull it out.”
“Don’t worry so much about labeling the plant a weed or flower. Instead, consider if that particular plant is adding beauty to the space. If it’s beautiful, if you love it, if it adds value to the garden, let it grow. If it distracts, crowds out other plants, or doesn’t work in that space, pull it out.”
Paraphrased from Marilyn Marker
Over the winter, we allow the seemingly dead plants to remain in the garden. While they no longer produce beautiful flowers and are mostly brown, they provide much-needed food and shelter for birds and other pollinators throughout the winter season. Once spring weather arrives and decides to stick around, it signals the time has come to clear all the dead overgrown plants out of the garden space and make room for beautiful things to grow and bloom.
Nine years later, I still garden with my mother-in-law’s words echoing. With my hands digging in the dirt, I pull weeds and clear space asking if this plant work in this space? Does it allow room for other plants to blossom? Is it adding beauty to the garden? At first, I worried that in the process of clearing out the butterfly garden, I had cleared out too much and left it bare. But as everything began to grow, I realized I had not cleared out enough and vowed to do a better job next year, so none of the plants ended up hidden or crowded out. Side note: I still find myself promising each year to do a better job clearing out the butterfly garden and keeping it better-tended. It’s a whole process.
As the garden requires tending and clearing out this spring, I also find myself, my home, and my calendar in need of some extra tending. It seems I, too, need to create space for new things to grow. As I create space in our home and on our calendars, I remember my mother-in-law’s advice about the garden. Perhaps, it’s not about labeling something good or bad, but instead asking if it works in this space. As I clear space, I also ask if I’m leaving too much space. After years of running hard and fast from one activity to the next, empty space feels lazy and unproductive. Yet, like my garden, I am learning that activities require and fill more space over time as new things grow.
Time gardening has taught me that if I start with a crowded garden, the plants will not have enough space to grow to their full potential and will quickly deplete the nutrients in the earth. The same holds for my calendar and daily life. If I begin a season with an overly scheduled calendar, I am left with little or no margin to allow new and beautiful things to grow and may even find myself depleted.
This year I will dig a few larger bushes out of the butterfly garden (with my husband’s help). They fit just fine in the space, but I noticed they grew into other areas and overshadowed smaller plants last year. Plants that I want to see bloom. My calendar has also held things that once fit just fine, but now I need to remove them to make space for some other things to blossom.
Perhaps with spring’s arrival, you find yourself clearing out your flower or vegetable garden. Or maybe spring weather inspires you to do a deep cleaning of your home. In our spring cleaning endeavors, let’s not forget to move beyond our physical space and ask if our schedules and routines require some tending, even a deep cleaning?
May we consider spring cleaning an opportunity to remove that which no longer fits in this season, and create space for beautiful things to grow.
What I know for sure is that when you declutter – whether it’s your home, your head, or your heart – it is astounding what will flow into that space that will enrich your life and your family.
Peter Walsh
