This week’s Welcome to My World blog challenge question is What is your favorite type of scenery?
For those who know me, it’s no secret what outdoor setting I adore.
My fondness for gardens began with my grandmother’s snapdragons that lined the exterior wall of her cinder-block house. Every summer, as a young girl, I’d play puppeteer with the red, pink, orange, and yellow flowers. One gentle squeeze on the side of a blossom and it would open and close like a dragon’s mouth.
Grandma and Grandpa had a large vegetable garden behind the house, past the clothesline. Lush vines, plants, and stalks camouflaged long rows of tilled soil. I’d step over foliage, hunt for oval watermelons and bright red strawberries. Before I reached the house with my treasures, I smelled of fresh-picked berries, and my fingers and lips were stained red.
The Bible tells us in Genesis 1:11 that “God created sprouts, plants yielding seeds, and trees bearing fruit.” Verse 12 says God saw that it was good.
He saw that the scenery was good.
The Garden of Eden must have been exquisite. In my mind, I imagine thousands of textures, hues, various heights, and shapes. The Bible doesn’t tell us, but maybe streams, bubbling creeks, waterfalls, and ponds were part of Eden.
Some years ago, home garden tours were fashionable. I’d buy a ticket and spend the day up-close viewing sceneries graced with overflowing perennials and annuals landscaped in spectacular designs. Low growing white and purple alyssum bordered beds. Large blue Hydrangea clusters reflected their preference for shade. Rose petal droppings sprinkled repurposed hardscape. Moss grew on rocks, stepping stones, and driftwood brought from beaches. Old barn wood and paned windows built into tool sheds and green houses added interest and functionality to many of the home gardens that I toured.
I don’t know about you, but I am always reluctant to leave a garden and return to reality.
Gardens have positive effects on humans. It’s where one can escape on a long leisurely path, smell fragrant blossoms, or sit to meditate. Where hands work the soil, nurture seedlings, prayers unfold, and visions are realized. It’s a place where frowns turn to smiles and hope uplifts hurting hearts.
If I’m happy, I’m cheerier when I enter a garden or see one from a distance.
If I’m sad, my spirit is lifted.
This is why I mention gardens or flowers in each of my books.
God created the Garden of Eden because He saw that it was good for the soul and the body.
Do you find gardens to be a place of healing?
Or do you favor a different scenery?
Dianne Marie Andre 