Seasons of Gardening

Recently, gardening has become my new hobby. My husband and I decided to do some landscaping and yard projects around our home, and one of the large projects I took on was creating a very deep pollinator garden in our font yard.

Throughout the process of bringing this together, I have gained quite the education. In addition to learning about native plants, perennials, invasive species, pollinator preferences, etc., I have also seen the creativity, brilliance, and simple joy of the Lord. I understand the way He delights over His creation in a newfound way. The way that all of creation works together in such rhythm and coordination displays His sovereignty, attention to detail,  and intentionality. (Psalm 19:1, Romans 1:20)

For weeks, if not months, I scoured Pinterest looking at simple map displays of pollinator gardens. Googling specific plants, their size at full growth, what they look like, the type of environment they need, and whether or not they appeal to pollinators. In the midst of my research, there is one thing I did not consider: the bloom time of the plant.

You see, the first flowers went into the garden and we noticed the bumble bees immediately loved them, along with the birds. But after a relatively short period of time, I thought that they were beginning to die off. After doing some consulting, it turns out that the plant was not dying; it was actually quite healthy! Shortly thereafter is when I realized – every plant has a bloom timeframe. A period of time in which the flowers on the plant burst open and create visual appeal and provide a source of sustenance for nature. For some plants and flowers, this time frame is late spring to early summer, for others it may be mid-summer to early fall. It varies from plant to plant. But not all of the plants bloom at the same time.

As I repeatedly sketched out the vision for my garden over and over and over again, I did not fully consider which flowers would be blooming at what times. 

This plant wasn’t dying, its bloom time was coming to an end until the next season. 

Its seeds would then increase the habitat for the birds.

This is exactly how it is in our own lives – while it may look  like things are bleak, it can be, through the Lord, that there is a deeper purpose taking place. We work for a season, and then we rest for a season, and that rest still continues to bare fruit that others benefit from.

Similarly, as I was purchasing plants to put into the garden, the kind woman who sold them to me said as I was walking away, “They may get droopy after you plant them, but they will come back. You can cut back some leaves, but as long as the roots are healthy, they will sprout new leaves.”

Wow. Is this not also so true of us? Once again, regardless of how bleak things may appear at first glance, as long as there is a deep, healthy root system – as long as we are firmly established in the Lord, we will experience new growth.

When we look at creation, we see the patterns that God has set for us. My hope is that we would work to establish deep rooted faith before we find ourselves in a difficult season, so that no matter how bad things may seem, we will, after time, show signs of new life. That we would consider how most plants don’t have flowers that bloom all the time to help enrich the needs of the ecosystems they find themselves in, but rather, they operate within seasons in order to rest and reproduce; lying dormant before bursting forth in production. This is the rhythm of God’s beautiful design.