The Observant Gardener: The Impermanence of Our Gardens

“Nature’s first green is gold, / Her hardest hue to hold. / Her early leaf’s a flower; / But only so an hour. / Then leaf subsides to leaf. / So Eden sank to grief, / So dawn goes down to day. / Nothing gold can stay.” ~ Robert Frost

By Judith Canty Graves

Impermanence is a concept in Buddhism asserting that life flows from one stage of existence to another. Change is constant. When we grasp and try to hold onto something, we will ultimately suffer because everything changes. Buddhism teaches that attachment is the cause of suffering and that we must be aware of impermanence in every aspect of our lives and try to accept it.

Gardens teach us about impermanence. Change is constant with soil, plants, weather and the natural world in general. We may think that something is stable and permanent, but the opposite is true. Sometimes the garden changes in ways that are small and imperceptible, but other times the changes are large and dramatic. Watching my garden change from season to season reminds me to embrace the changes in my own life and to fully appreciate every day.

I have had the privilege of observing the natural world closely for years. From day to day, not much seems to happen, but that can be an illusion. If I leave for two weeks on vacation, for example, I am always amazed at what I see when I return. One April, when I went away on a trip, the azaleas had not yet bloomed. When I returned, their pink flowers had burst open by the thousands! After a recent summer vacation, my plants had grown much taller and weeds had taken over everywhere.

All of the plants I grow illustrate impermanence. The transition from summer to fall is especially rapid and dramatic in the garden. The plants diminish, changing every day. The first killing frost happens at this time of year, marking the final end to the growing season for the warm weather plants.

I have to accept the reality that nature is constantly in the process of flowing from one stage of existence to the next, and that by November the time of growth has passed. It is time to lose my attachment to the garden I have nurtured for months. When the next cold front blows in, I will watch the clouds race overhead and reflect on the various aspects of the fall season, especially the bare branches that emerge from the trees, revealing their structure.

The branches symbolize our losses. Sometimes I feel wistful looking at them, remembering the lush growth of summer. Autumn shows us how fleeting the seasons are, but I know that life will continue to evolve and I feel at peace with the world. As one situation fades away, a new one will replace it, especially with growth in the spring.

There are many lessons we can learn from the natural world.

Judith Canty Graves is an Asheville gardener with a background in photojournalism. Follow @TheObservantGardener on Instagram to see new garden photos daily.