This is a simple thought, perhaps but>>>
As I was told when I was very young, "for insights into your own life, look to nature ! "
Well, tonight, in the wee hours, as the rain is gently falling, and my window is open to the sound of the cheepers and crickets, on this warm September night, I had these thoughts, and decided to present them as seeds for thought, as to how your life, and the lives of those around you in any given day, and the earth itself, have things in common.
Perhaps to study a book on how to grow various plants and flowers can give you ( or someone you know ) insights into things in your own life … as it has in mine ...
If you choose to “own” a plant, what is needed to make a flower grow and bloom? If it is given the comfortable temperature and right amount of sunlight, and nutrients and proper space for the roots to grow it will grow and bloom beautifully.
If it isn't planted in the right kind of soil, with the right PH, or if it isn't fed the right kind of food, or not enough, or watered too much or to little, and doesn't get the right amount and kind of light, it is stunted, withers and dies. Many plants need regular trimming to produce and not get leggy, and wither and die. All require the proper amount of room for the roots to grow. If they are cramped, the plant cannot grow, the roots become bound, and the plant dies. Some do better indoors and others outside. Some survive harsh winters, but others do not. In short: If deprived of the right combination for a little while, it will drop leaves and may not produce buds, or they may wither on the stem. If the food it needs is taken up by weeds, or bugs infest and feed on it, it will die.You'll need to observe it on a regular basis and acess it's needs and the environment I which it dwells, making adjustments as necessary. Knowing the plant is imperative.
There are plants that can flourish in the desert, others that grow in forests, or tropical rainforests, and other climates and conditions, and each has spacific needs.
African Violets need a soft, loamy, acidic soil, while others require a sandy alkaline soil. People are the same way. All are people, just as plants are plants, but there are different species of plants, and different varieties, for instance, of roses. Even those that are called “roses” require different things, according to the kind of rose it is.
It may be true that you can plant a seed and it will grow, but it may not live long, and may not produce, and may well be stunted. On the other hand, it may not live beyond being a seedling, if indeed it doesn't rot as a seed, if its spacific needs aren't met.
One size doesn't fit all … but one thing is for certain, unless it's needs are met, it will not do well and live as intended, to the fullest it can be.
You can tend a plant as a matter of routine ... just doing as instructed in regards to the spacific plant, and it will grow, (but as horticulturists know, if they are given a loving feeling and handling, they grow better, produce more, and live longer ) or one can take time and care in tending it... as nature, at her best, would do... To simply plant it and tend to the basics of watering and light, is not enough... and to give it artifical vitamins and artificial soil may produce a pretty plant, that puts on a display akin to a fireworks display, but it will be nearly as short-lived.
Careful attention to the spacific needs and monitoring its environment are required for it to grow and live its life to the fullest, and remain healthy. This takes LOVE … From humans, or otherwise ...
ACTUALLY, this goes for ALL living things ... and in applying this line of thought to people ...
Hmmm .... You know, with people, at least, it seems to me that, oftentimes, “wants” are really NEEDS for the spacific plant! For humans and other animals, food, shelter, clothing, are only the stark basics for something to sustain … while, quite likely, slowly dying at the same time ...
Some people look on other people as wildflowers and able to fend for themselves after a certain point. It may, but the wildflower tends to take away from many plants in its lifetime, because its needs are greater than that of domestic varieties, which might be said of the individuals who don't get proper attention in a loving home and are then cast into society without having the means to provide for themselves. But most aren't wildflowers, though many are treated as such, and adapt rather than dying prematurely. You can say that to take a tender houseplant and cast it out to fend for itself makes it stronger if it doesn't kill it, and it may, but wouldn't it really be preferable to having it take only what it needs to sustain a beautiful, productive, life, as the kind of plant it was intended to be?
In a cultured garden weeds do not grow, if the soil is properly tended, and the right kind of plants are grouped together. The right mulching will prevent most weeds from ever breaking through the soil in the first place. Of course, some weeds will generally emerge despite the most careful preventative measures, having had the seed of a weed from the start, but they, too, have their place in the scheme of things … and deserve to be loved and well- tended, according to their own needs.
All living things deserve TLC, even the weeds ( aka: wildflowers ) ... even the most unwanted, or noxious, ones ... not to be obliterated simply because they sprang forth as weeds from the start, or were cast out and treated as such to become stronger … which, apparently, they do ... despite all odds ... and if they are taking over the garden and crowding out all the other plants, perhaps they need a place of their needs met and to be allowed back " in" , or to have a place of their own, a place to be happy according to their own needs.
In a world where so many have needs, what is the one thing you can offer to a PERSON (flower) that has been cast out? You can always treat it kindly. Though, I'd add that there should always be food banks and housing for the wild ones to come to as needed. We need not go live among them to give them love, just as we do not choose to live in the woods and sleep under a tree every night to love the animals in a forest. But we need to consider their needs as well ... (Don't people feed birds and other forms of wildlife when they are starving ???)
(In closing
Well, anyway... it's food for thought … take it where you will ... or not... according to your own individual needs ... or perhaps just sleep on it >>> ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
