Planting shade trees for others to enjoy

When I was young my father took me to volunteer at a Seniors camp outside of Squamish called Paradise Valley. It was run by the United Church. They used to sing Johnny Appleseed for grace. Seemingly Johnny Appleseed was an American pioneer who planted a lot of apple trees.

One time my father sat me down in a grove of shade trees and told me a story about the Mormon Pioneers. He wasn't a Mormon but he admired their work ethic. He told me how many of the Mormon pioneers came out West in waves. He said one group would plant crops while another group latter on would come and harvest the crops. He thought that was very noble.

Then he points up to the shade trees we were resting under and said look at these huge trees. Someone planted them a long time ago and never had the opportunity to see them grow to be so large. Someone else planted them for us to enjoy. Then he says to me always plant shade trees under which you know you will never rest. It's a positive metaphor so it is.

My father used to always get young kids to plant crocus bulbs which would come back every year. Gardening is also somewhat metaphorical. Some things you plant grow, some things don't. Sometimes if you transplant them somewhere else, they grow better than where you first planted them. My brother was an avid gardener. This year I got into water lilies. They're the closest thing we have to lotus but survive our winters. To me the flower looks the same.

Last week I bought a couple of small water lilies and put them in pots of water. The pots were a bit small. I found the small pots of water got very hot in the summer sun. They come in small baskets of fine gravel. I transplanted one in pond mud but found the mud made all the water muddy. With the gravel you can see clearly what blooms are coming up. So I bought two new water lilies with blooms and buds and put them in a much larger pot. They look awesome.