"Hungry eyes desire greenery...."

Sure, I love a salad. Especially with little green onions. Or the sprouts I can grow in a fruit jar. I will gobble any vegetable that will hold still. I like having a philodendron around to clear the air. I don't have a lot of inside plant space at present, so my collection is limited to an Anthruium, a peace lily and a wandering jew during the winter. TV programs like Victory Garden and Garden Home are favorites. Another Rainer, JudyAnn Lorenz, subscribes to Organic Gardening for her kids because of the beauty in it and the enjoyment they all get about dream planning their own greenery. She says her husband's favorite catalogs are seed and plant catalogs or the organic, safer supplies to be ordered from Gardens Alive.   

There is a deep gatherer connection that finds therapy in planting and growing green. Watching the genetic programing of that 'chip' of a seed wake up and begin to grow. We water it, we talk to it, we enjoy the fruit of our labors and we live to see another winter. We put it in pots and bring it in to survive with us. I love the midwest because of the flowering things that begin popping before the weather lets us shed the woolens. Friends who have lived at high desert locations say the severity of the winter isn't what gets them; the length of time without GREEN.. There is green therapy in the hard work of lawnmowing. Our souls crave a tree, a plant, something growing and GREEN. We can measure the progress of the days by the development of the plant. We can rejoice on a blossom if there are any. We can be just outrageously allergic to some of them. But, the good guys keep trees. The planners in crowded cities have learned to put trees in big pots on the sidewalk, have carved out pocket parks among the buildings, have made greenways of flood control areas (when there's not a flood, there is a park). Businesses know they benefit from tubs of flowers by the door. Developers put some trees in the open space before the people move in; in some areas, the purchase of new construction is finished with a gift certifcate toward trees in the yard. I love to read about successful inner city gardens on vacant lots or in apartment atriums -- answering the desire of eyes hungry for green

One acquaintance told me she sort of regretted adding new plantings to her yard as part of the sale staging. The new buyers made the property into a rental and removed everything the tenants could neglect to death. But, I think Chelly was right in the beginning and the new buyer erred in renter treatment and expectations. A property staged for the GREEN eye has influenced a potential buyer long before a door is ever opened.

We can prove the physical need for green around us; air quality, vegetative food production, living art in blossom and leaf. The rain forest, the prairie, the lawn, the garden, the house plants all help clean toxins from our air outdoors and indoors. Agriculture has kept green eating species alive in all parts of the planet.

For a wild and crazy look at the GREEN world around us, I suggest reading THE SECRET LIFE OF PLANTS. I can get radical about GREEN desires and needs for water management, xeriscaping, planting choices for best survival and care, utitlity management with trees and greenery, my impatience with people who refuse to GET it. But, today, I wanted to acknowledge that our eyes are hungry for greenery and encourage you to celebrate and fulfil that yearning with me. To paraphrase the old adage about giving a man a fish and teaching a man to fish -- if the hunger is great, then a fish must be given to get strength to learn to fish. When the hungry eyes are fulfilled, the options and issues for other facets of green living are better learned. And applied so we'll be healthier and happier.

Now, I must put on my hat and get myself down to the greenhouse before you buy all the petunias and pansies ahead of me!