How to Add More Meaning to Your Garden
Adding meaningful elements to your garden is easy and fun!
What do you hope to be known for when your time on earth is up?
Maybe it’s not something you care to think about. But, I believe our lives are meaningful. And thinking about this question helps me come to terms with immortality while reminding me to use my days wisely.
I hope someday people will say, “She was a spirited plant lady with a big heart.” I want to feed more bees and butterflies than dollars I ever have in the bank. I’d like to leave behind more colorful blooming perennials than material things for my loved ones to go through.
Gardens offer us so much — from providing healthy food and strengthening our nature connection to improving mental health and so much more.
For me, gardening is about playing in the dirt and experimenting with new varieties. It’s about watching as seedlings push through the soil and looking back over my work at the end of the day and thinking, “this is meaningful.”
Because it is!
I’ll never know the true worth of the gardens I grow. And that’s okay. I trust that tending to the land is enough. A passion for gardening was put in my soul. Allowing that to guide me is the kindest thing I can do for myself and the rest of the world.
If you’d like to join me in leaving a green legacy while cultivating a meaningful relationship with your garden, here are a few of my favorite ideas.
7 Ways to Add More Meaning to Your Garden
The best part about creating a meaningful garden space is that the process is entirely unique to you. It’s all about determining what you find meaningful and weaving that into your gardening experience.
Make Play a Priority
Gardens are the perfect place to play.
As adults, we don’t prioritize play. We don’t think it’s all that important. But it’s actually essential to our health and well being.
Play may not look the same as when you were a kid either. Maybe you could experiment with a whimsical design idea. Or perhaps spend the afternoon bug hunting — just to see what you can find.
The purpose of play is to be creative, engage your imagination and interact with your world in new and exciting ways. Instead of viewing your garden solely as a place for productivity and physical labor, focus on leisurely fun.
Grow a Childhood Favorite
Think back to your childhood for a moment. Do you have any fond memories of growing anything in particular?
My grandparents had a rather large garden when I was young. And my aunt and I loved to go out and eat the fresh peas straight from the pod.
It became a joke that we would eat all of the peas before they could be had by anyone else.
Now every time the peas are ready, I think of those childhood memories and smile. Growing something special from your childhood is a beautiful way to build a meaningful relationship with your garden.
If you can’t think of a particular plant that you or a loved one grew, can you think of a book you treasured as a child? One that involved plants? (For me, that would be Anne of Green Gables.)
Or a specific scent that reminds you of a simpler time in your life? Try adding one of these plants to your garden.
Delight Your Senses
It might sound odd, but I’ve always wished I could bottle up the peculiar scent of tomato plants growing in the hot summer sun. I would save it for those dreary winter days when I’m feeling blue and instantly be transported back to those lush, green-things-growing-everywhere days.
Scent is such a powerful sensation — one that can remind us of days gone by, uplift a bleak mood or fully ground us in the present moment.
Often taste and smell go hand-in-hand in creating moments of happiness that can be enjoyed from the garden. And let’s not forget about the world of textures — from bumpy sage leaves to the soft, delicate surface of lamb’s ear.
There is no end to creating a garden that delights the senses!
Add Meaningful Objects
Adding meaningful elements and objects encourages us to see our garden as so much more than a workplace. Consider adding spiritual art such as angel statues or maybe a saint you turn to in times of distress.
Maybe you’d like to honor or remember a particular person or pet in your garden. Creating a “shrine” of sorts is an excellent way to do so.
My dog, Daisy, will be getting her very own patch of daisies this growing season!
Create a Sanctuary for Wildlife
I love the idea of creating a native landscape abuzz with wildlife — a sanctuary of sorts where deer, squirrels, rabbits, birds and bees are all welcome.
You’re probably thinking, “Why would I want to invite grazers and pests into my garden?” And I hear that. I don’t particularly enjoy squirrels stealing all of my tomatoes before I can get to them either.
But before you spray pesticides everywhere, consider a permaculture approach. Author Toby Hemenway discusses ways of gardening that feed both you and wildlife in his book, Gaia’s Garden.
By adding plants for grazers to your landscape, you can take the approach that all are welcome and still grow an abundant garden for you and your family.
Growing native flowers is another great way to encourage pollinators and beneficial insects to frequent your garden. I suggest researching native plant groups or botanical gardens in your area for more information on what grows naturally near you.
Add an Inviting Place to Sit
Your garden shouldn’t just be a place you visit when weeds need pulling. Having a comfortable place to sit back and relax in the garden will surely encourage you to spend more time there.
Place a bench or chair in your garden and plant your favorite flowers close by. Make it a habit to drink your morning coffee, journal, read a book or meditate there. Rest here often, and you’ll be amazed at how quickly your relationship to the earth will grow.
Grow Plants from Seed
Plants grown from seed will have an extra special place in your heart. There’s something magical about watching tiny sprouts poke through the soil and mature from seed.
You can also learn how to save seeds to continue growing plants from your original seedlings. What’s more, is that plants grown from seed make lovely gifts for fellow gardeners in your life.
It’s Your Turn!
Nothing stands alone in nature. It’s all about relationships.
Whether you’ve been gardening for years or just getting started, try adding some meaningful elements to your garden. We can’t go wrong spending more time outdoors and foraging deeper connections with the land and plants that grow there. Being intentional in our gardening design encourages these relationships.
Who knows? Maybe when it’s all said and done, you’ll leave a gardening legacy for loved ones to tend to and enjoy long after you are gone, too!
