Kiss the Earth

"A little too abstract, a little too wise,
It is time for us to kiss the earth again,
It is time to let the leaves rain from the skies,
Let the rich life run to the roots again."
- from Robinson Jeffers’ poem “The Return”

Welcome to “Kiss the Earth,” a new gardening blog, so named because it seems to capture what gardening is all about. It’s joyful and affectionate. It’s down and dirty. It’s even global.
Smooch the planet, everyone!
Like many of you, I’ve been out in the garden since I was a child. I loved helping my parents fuss over the roses and pick the raspberries. We even had peach trees in the back yard, right here in Philadelphia.
I’ve been going to the Flower Show since I could walk, puttered around in a greenhouse with the nuns who taught me in elementary and high school, and memories of visiting relatives have a decidedly green tint. I can still see the Pennsylvania grandparents’ putting-green lawn and the Massachusetts’ grandparents’ bountiful elms and lilies.
As a young adult, I was all about flowers and vegetables (even when the yard belonged to a landlord), a trend that continued when the Inquirer called me back to Philadelphia from the Midwest. I rented plots in community gardens and filled the small spaces around my rowhouse with brightly colored flowers, tomatoes and herbs.
Three years ago, my husband and I embarked upon a major project: transforming the long-neglected, poison-ivy-filled back yard of our new house. While no garden is ever “done,” the project is officially over, leaving us to play and tinker and (spend ever more money and) enjoy absolutely everything about it.
This has had a profound effect on my career - I get paid to write about this stuff! - and, no exaggeration, changed my life. Made me happier. Lowered my blood pressure. Made everything more fun.
Even my husband is a gardener now, which is a wonderful thing, and my son and new daughter-in-law, though insanely busy out in Colorado, are showing promising symptoms, too.
Loving plants is a gift, is how I see it. When so much out there seems the opposite, we gardeners see the world as a generous and splendid place, an oasis of joy that, for me, at least, seemed to arrive just in time.
So kiss the earth. Smooch the planet! This is gonna be fun.