You’ve done enough watering. It’s time to be the garden for once.

I’ve heard this quote several times this summer, saw it in memes and read it twice the other day on Twitter and Instagram. What can I say, plant wisdom resonates with me.

With the past few months feeling more like a bed of ragged weeds than a vase of beautiful blooms I thought it’d be a good time to write about it.

Personal plant philosophy that is.

A few years ago a dear friend wrote in a birthday card to me: “Humans are a lot like plants just with more complex emotions.” That card sits on my desk next to one of my favourite houseplants (that I swear is moodier than me). And it really gets me thinking.

I am some kind of rare, fabulous flora. I need sunlight and water. I need some soil to settle our roots; to propagate new growth. I need a sturdy planter, a place to call home. I don’t require a lot of maintenance but I do flourish with some gentle love and care.

I gravitate towards the light. I weather the seasons. I’m resilient by nature. I follow a cycle chasing the sun: seed, bud, flower and harvest.

But sometimes even with all the water and fertilizer in the world, I wither. I harden. I lay dormant.

I struggle to reproduce.

But then – just as i think there’s nothing beyond dirt and mulch; just as i feel like digging it all up to start again – hope begins to sprout through the earth. Water revives the seeds. A new season arrives.

The sun shines on.

I persevere.

The fruits of my labour have come to bear a bounty of life’s greatest gifts: courage and grace too.

A bouquet of everlasting gratitude.

Everything I’ve been cultivating begins to make sense. I stand barefoot in the rain. I exhale as I set down the watering can.

I can rest now. I’ve done enough watering. I can rejoice and be the garden for once.

You can be the garden too, sweet pea. Rest. Allow yourself to hibernate. The water will flow again soon.