Sounds of a Garden
Salve – Review by ShabdAaweg
The swish of unfolding petals is hushed by serenity of soil holding the dark maze of roots. Rustle of leaves and flutter of bees make any garden alive. The water-saturated smell of greenery beckons me invoking garden tools to be in action. A gardener is never tired of nuances attached with tending the sprouting shoots and picking dead branches. When all others feel that the plant has reached its end, I know that it is mere decomposition converting it to another useful form of matter.
Nature gives and we enjoy its bounty. Plants grow providing shade, flowers, scent, fruits, fibre and so much more. We should learn to love them. Ecosystems survive only when every component including human beings play their prescribed role. Relationship of humans with nature is the key to biodiversity of the planet we inhabit. More we understand plants, closer are we to nature. Gardening gives us an opportunity to bond with nature. To sow a seed and watch it unfurling green growth is a sheer delight. Who won’t like the perfume of flowers but if we stay in a garden for some more time, olfactory receptors come across many more scents emanating from green grasses, newly forming copper tinged leaves, damp vegetation, rose hips, also if you are attentive enough, smells of night blooming flowers hung around their shrubs and peculiar perfumes of well known herbs like basil, thyme, varieties of mint. Many foliage plants which don’t have showy flowers have their distinct scent. You need to stay with plants to befriend them and relish their qualities. They are best at showing gratitude, just put a sprinkle of water and a gentle touch. They shower deep colour and aroma profusely till last breath.
When not in season, their pleasant company encourages many other blossoms to light up and paint the scenery in loveliest soul satisfying hues. Ugly and crooked stems, blotchy foliage, unsightly receptacle bereft of petals; silently metamorphosing into seeds, all contribute to the diversity and divine aura of any garden.
Plants die, seeds sprout, bees hum, birds make home among branches or in a cavity, a number of almost invisible creatures survive in assonance with a garden. We just need to listen to these soul gratifying sounds and be astonished by the marvels of nature.
Era Garg July 2021
