One of the reasons I so love gardening is that life began with a garden. God—THE Gardener, planted the very first garden on the face of the earth. He had created all the plants, animals and creatures of the ground, of the sky and of the sea. Can you imagine all the unfurling of leaves, the colour burst of opening flowers, the swoosh of plants in upward thrust of growth? Add to those the baying, cawing and splashing of the creatures; what a glorious cacophony!  God had created all this and pronounced it “very good,” yet wilderness wasn’t enough, he wanted a garden, a place to grow particular plants in particular places.

“Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food” (Genesis 2:8,9).

I’ve met gardeners who want to grow nothing but practical plants, “things they can eat,” but God not only wanted trees that were “good” for food (bore fruit), he made them “pleasing to the eye.”  We don’t have to choose between “practicality” and beauty—beauty is an essential element in nature.  Fruit comes in gorgeous reds, violets, oranges, with thin fuzzy skins, tough dimpled peels…often with fragrant flowers. A city we lived in the US has streets lined with trees billowing with faintly pink cherry blossoms each spring.

I grow a few vegetables and herbs, not so much because I save money but because home-grown food gives me such satisfaction and tastes far better than supermarket varieties. But flowers are the main reason I garden; I love to be surrounded by their extravagant colour and beauty, and as a visual artist, I love to paint them.  Jesus said that even the wildflowers are more beautiful in their colours and form than even Solomon with all his fine kingly robes.  Think about that.  We don’t have to justify gardening for beauty—God started it.