CONSPIRING WITH NATURE

A retreat into gardening reminds one writer of her place in the world.

- Deborah Needleman

Gardens, once created, need us. Nature, on the other hand, doesn't. It carries on about its business heedless of us. The seasons move through their cycles, idle winter rousing into downy spring; spring exploding into summer; and summer retiring into fall. Gardening is what I do to wedge myself into the rhythms of nature, to attempt to become part of its vast drama.

Gardening situates me in the world, rather than in the attributes we often use to define ourselves. I find my insignificance in the face of this resilient but uncaring physicality reassuring and grounding. Nature may not need a garden, but I do.