Wednesday, April 1, 2020 – Garden = United Nations

If I were an artist, I would use the colors from a vegetable/flower garden for my palette. The shades of green vary from chartreuse to emerald; reds include crimson, rose and burgundy; and purples range from lilac to plum. Not only are there a myriad of colors, but also a multitude of shapes and sizes of plants. In fact, it is a veritable United Nations out there in the garden. There are plants with different temperaments — those who prefer cold to hot weather or visa versa, those who prefer sun or shade and those who prefer a certain kind of fertilizer over another.

Plants also have different names and varieties. The people who name tomato varieties are not poets/artists. In the Addison Community Garden, there are 17 varieties of tomatoes: Parks Whopper Improved, Better Bush, Early Girl Bush, Early Girl Hybrid, Super Fantastic, Celebrity, Rutgers from the Heirloom Collection, Indigo Rose, Big Boy, Better Boy Hybrid, Beefmaster, Patio Hybrid, Husky Cherry Red Hybrid, Boxcar Willie Heirloom, Jubilee Yellow, Phoenix Heat Set and Supersweet 100. Apparently, the poets work naming spinach and other greens. There are three varieties of spinach in the community garden: Bloomsdale, Red Kitten and Space plus Bright Light swiss chard, Artwork stem broccoli, Dinosaur kale and Wasabi arugula.

Just like plants, people have different names and temperaments. And yet at the chemical level, the cells of all plants and animals contain DNA in the same double helix shape. The basis of our very creation unites us. We need to focus on our commonalities and not our differences. When we do that, we can join together to fight the coronavirus and live in harmony.