Gardener vs Flower Lover

[All pics from my garden] 

I've been gardening for over 20 years now, and I've come to notice something.

People see me in the garden center of the super stores buying plants. They will say, "What a pretty plant. Does it come back each year?" And if the answer is no, they quickly move on to what they were doing.

Once I make it to the check out line with plants I just could not resist, but have no idea where I can possibly squeeze into my already full garden, people in line say, "What beautiful plants. Do you have to water them?" When I say yes, I always here, "I don't have any time to be watering plants."

When someone comes to my home, I am shocked and pleased at how much they like my flower garden. But, it's not long before they say, "I wish I had time to have flowers. I just have so much to do."

Also while people tour my garden I hear, "You must spend a lot of money on your garden. I don't have any money for anything I can't eat."

I meet people everyday who want flowers at their home and that is as far as it goes. THEY WANT FLOWERS. They want their flowers to look like my flowers without anything I do for them to look like they do. People love FLOWERS but not GARDENS.

GARDENS are where flowers go to live. They are no longer a PLANT, but part of a family. THEY have a home. Families and homes require love and care to live and to thrive. BASIC needs must be met. When a person loves their family and home, meeting basic needs is not a chore, but actually a joy and expression of love.

Every gardener will tell you, one day they looked up and had hundreds of plants. Somehow, it just happened. That is because wherever their is LOVE there is GROWTH.

There are many plants that do come back each year and don't require a lot of watering. Some thrive on neglect. A person really interested in plants ask different questions.

When you meet a gardener they will say, "What a beuatiful plant. Where did you get that from?" When they see you with your buggy full of plants at the check out line they will say, "You know that plant is so easy to divide or can be rooted easy. I have given so many people pieces of that plant." When a gardener comes to my home and sees my flower garden they say, "I could sit out here all day just looking at the flowers, birds, and bees. Do you have hummingbirds?"

There is a DIFFERENT LANGUAGE spoken by flower lovers and gardeners. 

Through trial and error, gardeners have learned the plants that work for them in their garden. Some have gardens they water everyday filled with beautiful flowering annuals. Some gardeners ONLY have gardens filled with plants that come up every years and they never have to water them after the first year after they are planted. Their are gardens of only ornamental grasses and not one bloom. Water gardens, cactus gardens, you name it. But the common theme is that their plants have a home where they are home.

Advice is given to the single person all of the time, "If they want you, they will make time for you." The same holds true for flowers. If you love flowers enough, you will make time for them. 

I'm not disparaging flower lovers because we gardeners LOVE having flowers for you to enjoy. It gives us great pleasure seeing your reactions to our little beauties. Gardeners enjoy giving gardening tips and/or helping you start your own garden. I have just come to notice, gardeners are a different type of people and when we bump into each other in garden centers the reaction is like, "Yes. This is my tribe. My people."

So, which one are you, a gardener or a flower lover. We need both in this beautiful world of FLOWERS.