By Carolina Fernandez “If seeds in the black earth can turn into such beautiful roses, what might not the heart of man become in its long journey toward the stars?” G.K. Chesterton I woke up today with achy muscles and hamstrings that feltstretched to the max. Too much time at the gym? Too many mileson my bike? Nope. Just lots and lots of gardening. This week I joined hundreds of others who, pulled by SpringFever, sunshine, and fresh air, flocked to nurseries and gardencenters in search of the perfect annuals, shrubs, planters, andgarden ornaments. And boy oh boy, did we find them. We came indroves, fellow gardeners and I, driving way too many miles inthis gasoline-crisis-environment of ours, looking for the bestprices, the best selection, and the best accessories. And you know what I mean by garden accessories, right? It’s abusiness reaction as befitting this gardening frenzy as hot dogbuns are to hot dogs. And we’re not just talking planters,birdhouses, and birdbaths anymore, either. We’re talking benches, arches, baker’s racks, shutters, statues, sundials…with bunnies and roosters in all shapes and sizes to boot. Do you want those in bronze, black or antique white? Distressed? Shiny? Whatever your fancy, they’re yours for the buying. And buying them we are. What with cocooning becoming the “in”lifestyle of the 90’s, it’s no wonder that we’ve attacked ouryards with passion. And our wallets. Americans spend just under$40 billion-yes, that’s a “b”-on lawn care annually, according to the National Gardening Association. And the annual rate of growth in the industry has been at 8% for the last five years. In fact, eight out of ten households in the U.S. actively participate in indoor and outdoor lawn and garden activities of the do-it-yourself nature in one way or another, a degree equal to the highest level of participation in the last five years. Sales of bulbs to consumers have nearly doubled within the past five years, too. And retail sales of floral products come in around $13 billion. We can hardly help ourselves. Researcher Mike Steven establishedin a research project in Australia entitled “The CongruentGarden: An Investigation into the Role of the Domestic Garden inSatisfying Fundamental Human Needs,” that gardens have thepotential to satisfy nine basic human needs, including, inaddition to subsistence, affection and creation, which resonatemost closely with my own experience there.* Gardening allows me to forget the troubles of my everyday worldand become immersed into creating something of beauty. Gardeningallows me, as I mindlessly pull weeds, arrange potting soil intocontainers, and pat dirt gently around freshly planted flowers,to sift my thoughts through a filter energized by sunshine andfresh air. It gives me the freedom to enjoy the wild songs of the birds, the bubbling of the brook….and the humming of thelawnmower of a neighbor I hadn’t previously recognized. Gardening forces me out of my comfort zone behind the computerscreen at which I stare seven days a week, and into the world ofperennials and annuals, the names, sunlight requirements, andbloom cycles which continue to escape my memory. It forces me toget my hands and fingernails dirty (I hate wearing gloves) andcelebrate the tactile pleasure of running damp soil through mypalms and pressing it into the earth. Gardening stretches me. Ithelps to illuminate my innermost thoughts. It forces me out ofthe cerebral nature of the work that I do, and pushes me into the physical nature of work in which I feel so incompetent. As we celebrate Spring….and fight the Fever together…engagein work of your hands by working the earth beneath your feet.Allow yourself to become intoxicated by the beauty and aroma offlowers. For as it was so aptly said in the TV show A Gardener’sDairy: “What grows in the garden, so lovely and rare? Roses andDahlias and people grow there.” Yes. People grow in gardens.Robert Ingersolll wrote: “Every flower about a house certifies to the refinement of somebody. Every vine climbing and blossoming tells of love and joy.” And growing in love and joy is, after all, what growing in one’sgarden is all about. *Note: Mike Steven, Lecturer in Landscape Studies, University ofWesten Sydney, Australia Carolina Fernandez earned an M.B.A. and worked at IBM and as a stockbroker at Merrill Lynch before coming home to work as a wife and mother of four. She totally re-invented herself along the way. Strong convictions were born about the role of the arts in child development; ten years of homeschooling and raising four kids provide fertile soil for devising creative parenting strategies. These are played out in ROCKET MOM! 7 Strategies To Blast You Into Brilliance. It is widely available online, in bookstores or through 888-476-2493. She writes extensively for a variety of parenting resources and teaches other moms via seminars, workshops, keynotes and monthly meetings of the ROCKET MOM SOCIETY, a sisterhood group she launched to encourage, equip and empower moms for excellence. Please visit http://www.rocketmom.com. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Carolina_Fernandez http://EzineArticles.com/?Growing-in-My-Garden&id=145886 ambien online prescriptions ambien sleeping pill lethal dose of lorazepam buy zolpidem low cost