Honoring your family and ancestors in your garden.
Everyone that enjoyed gardening at some point, usually learned and or was introduced to it by a relative. Many of my clients tell me about a family members favorite flower, or tool they use that has significance to them, and connect them to their family. Others share memories of themselves first learning to garden from a family members. Often gardening is generational and tricks, foods, seeds and tools are passed down from one generation to another.
Often clients may choose to honor the passing of family member or pay tribute to them in their garden. This can be done in many ways, including specific flowers, and or in the design, or a special item such as an engraved stone or wind chime with a name. Some families have worked together to each purchase a plant and create a garden in honor of someone special.
Often times after loosing a family member, people need a peaceful place to grieve, and to remember their loved ones. A bench in the garden can provide that space, and can even represent a connection to that person.
No matter what you choose to do, and how you do it, the garden can help you connect with your family on a spiritual level, and offer a place of peace, a place to grieve, and a place to connect with your family who are with you, and those who have moved on.
My love for gardening was given to me, like a gift, by my grandmother, who lived on a farm, and maintained a large garden. I have pictures of myself playing in the garden at a young age, and of her proudly standing next to her towering flowers at the end of a season. A gift she sent me years later, a ring I wear, connects me to her, and to all the gardens I work on, bringing her with me, and letting the soil connect me to her.
