Contemplate nature and all its curves

Rolling a square stem of ground ivy between his work-tempered fingers recently, a neighbor mused, “This is odd, isn’t it? Mints. They have these square stems. You don’t find squares too much in nature, do you?”

This little sentiment, like so many other observations of nature, immediately got me to thinking. I had handled mints, bee balm, lemon balm, bergamot and ground ivy dozens of times and I had marveled plenty over their square stems. But never had I thought about them in terms of all of nature. This one little plant – a lowly lawn weed – was, indeed, worthy of contemplation. Where it fit in the realm of living organisms suddenly seemed pressing. My brain scrambled to relate it to other naturally occurring, living angular things.

I didn’t come up with much.

Yes, it seemed he was right: Mother Nature is short on angles and boxy lines. She seems to favor soft, rolling, flowing lines. Swirls, curves, waves and whorls. Circles and ovals, complete or in part, they surround us in nature. Things flow, they keep going, keep moving. Life goes on in waves, circles, spirals and cycles.

In general, nature is cyclic, isn’t it? The seasons, circadian rhythms, the movement of the sun and moon. Our garden itself, with all its inhabiting creatures – both plants and animals – relies on cycles. The worm works the soil that feeds the flower that produces nectar that feeds the birds. And then another bird eats the worm.

So many things in nature are repeating and interrelated, with no clear beginning and no clear ending. Even sowing seeds in spring, it seems like the beginning, but really, the starting point of that practice began when the seed was harvested from the spent flower last season. Or maybe it started when the flower was fertilized. Or maybe when the blossom opened. How far back would we want to trace the cycle?

At first, my neighbor’s musings didn’t at all seem earth-shattering. But his comment about squares sent my thoughts off on a wavy ride that made me think of life out there in the garden in a new way. Then I realized that what was worthy of remark was that he took time to notice and to point out his observation to someone else. In turn, his observation and comment had in some small way increased my understanding and growth.

How many of us stoop down to the lawn to pick a weed, let alone study it and follow that study through to thorough contemplation? We’ve done it perhaps, because we are gardeners. But do we do it enough? Are you listening to and watching the stories nature unfolds before you?

“It’s funny,” a woman said to me last summer after we shared stories about animals and plants in the garden. “Sometimes you tell stories like this and some people will look at you like you’re crazy. They don’t even know what you’re talking about or why you’d want to talk about it. It’s like some people speak the language, and others don’t even have the slightest notion about what we are speaking.”

What my neighbor taught me today is share, share, share. Even the smallest things. Share! Talk! Spread nature’s news!

Why bother witnessing nature and really ruminating about it? Why bother learning the universal language the natural world speaks? I hope you already know the answer to this question and that it doesn’t even come into your mind. But if you don’t, I hope you don’t find it too obtuse a notion to seek to learn “the language,” to master it and to speak it to anyone who will listen.

All you have to do is go to the garden. Be present, watch and think.

Diana George Chapin is the NEWS garden columnist. Send horticulture questions to Gardening Questions, 512 North Ridge Road, Montville 04941 or e-mail dianagc@midcoast.com. Selected questions will be answered in future columns. Include name, address and telephone number.