Black Ink and Parchment

One moment you believe your garden is flourishing, then a gardener walks away, and you are left with silence and an emptiness you never thought possible, but here’s what is extraordinary about abandoned gardens.

1. Abandoned gardens embrace their wildness.

They grow what they want. It doesn’t matter that this red rose appeared in the middle of a daisy patch or that the blackberry vines are climbing a wooden fence. Maybe a few wildflowers tuck themselves next to daylilies and amaryllis. The colors merge and blend. There’s no coordination or logic. An abandoned garden returns to everything it used to be and was supposed to be before another gardener decided what it should be. Clovers run wild and the bees return. When butterflies continue to kiss the tulips and dragonflies soar, the snakes, frogs, and lizards return home, once chased away because they were undesirable. The garden no longer has to pretend that its untamable parts are gone, so the gardener feels safe.

2. Abandoned gardens protect themselves.

 Thorns grow sharper, and poisonous flowers enter, reminding everyone that while lovely to look at, plants can be dangerous. Once the garden learns to know its worth, strangers will no longer just come in, pick the flowers and leave, without some kind of scarring. It will teach the next gardener to be careful with delicate beauty.

3. An abandoned garden flourishes in solitude.

 Gardens cherish the emptiness that has been created. With the absence of someone who is only there to control it, it realizes that it wasn’t empty. It was always filled with the beauty of magnolias slowly opening or had the strength of a dandelion growing through concrete. Nature will forever grow, even without fertilizer, watering, or trimming. Solitude teaches the garden that it was always lovely. The quiet brings back everything forgotten and seeds that couldn’t bloom, now that the commotion is gone. The plants and flowers that need to stay will, while the ones that are no longer needed, will go without pulling or planting. Paths will be covered and also revealed. During this cycle of abandonment, rebirth will arrive.

 Explore everything that is in your garden and embrace the company of yourself. You shape your soul in the ways you wish, no longer having to listen to a voice saying, you shouldn’t have this flower, or you should put this one over there. When you are ready, open the garden gate and invite others to spend time in the beauty of your soul, but remember you decide on your own garden’s blooms, as well as its visitors.