Restoring your gardens and trees after years of neglect may seem cost prohibitive. I am here to demonstrate how the process of garden and tree restoration is not only cost effective, it’s also environmentally responsible and offers great long term monetary value.
To begin with, lets imagine you have had a traumatic event happen in your life. Your life is turned upside down and whatever routines you had previously practiced get put on hold for a while. Many people have been in this situation, either short turn or long term. Now what happens to the health of these people. Mentally they become strained and in turn physically they most likely begin to break down. Diet may change and activity level decreases as it is replaced with managing the event(s) that put living healthy on hold. This too often occurs in the life of our gardens and trees. The only difference, gardens and trees in man made environments rely on people to manage and maintain their health and in turn their value. The amazing thing to note is how similar our health is compared to our gardens and trees. And if this is true, the process of getting our bodies back to a healthy state is similar to how we would go about improving our existing trees and gardens.
You have been eating a certain way for some time and then all of a sudden life changes and you begin to navigate according to the changes. Following the change in our life is easier then trying to manage both our old habits with the new changes. Eventually we forget about how we used to be and set a new permanent course based on the events occurring around us. Our gardens and trees follow the same rules. The difference being as we become neglectful of our personal health we see the changes more dramatically with immediate unhealthy results (pants that are tighter around our waist). Trees and gardens overgrow, lose vigor and deplete soils of naturally occurring elements as all we manage is keeping things neat and clear. Neat and clean is not healthy. It is the illusion of good health like a good wardrobe can hide an unhealthy body. The value of course correction to a healthier state is critical to our quality of life and the health/value of our gardens and trees.
How to begin or convince someone we care about to begin, practicing a healthier life, is the challenge. The goal would be for people to make the life saving decision all on their own. Unfortunately people can become lazy, complacent, comfortable with the unhealthy place they have acclimated into. Personal life threatening events, and only the most obvious of changes ussually have to occur for people to realize that habits need to be altered. Before I write anymore I need everyone to assess their own situation. Look in the mirror and decide if what you see is benefiting the way you want to live. This same exercise with your gardens and trees can also be done if it’s viewed as important. The easiest way to review the gardens and trees is to look out your windows. Not just one but every window that presents a view to your trees and gardens. You could also view your property from your car as you are driving home during daylight hours. The other viewing alternative would be to physically walk around your property looking out, around, up into the trees and down to the ground. Perspective is very important to have at this beginning stage of restoration.
When I say perspective it simply means having something to compare to. Pictures of yourself when you were healthier. Sometimes looking at pictures from when we were younger helps. With trees and landscapes you may not have kept a photo log as we do for ourselves and our life events. Without garden and tree pictures we need to compare our properties to other homes and their gardens. How do the different gardens and trees compare. This is the first step towards a healthier state for our trees and gardens. With this new perspective we begin to have a greater understanding and appreciation of what has occurred. After years of restoring and redesigning existing gardens and trees, I find the initial stage, educating my clients as to the many possibilities most satisfying. For me, demonstrating my ability and the long term results of the work I perform is a close second to the educating process.
In the next few article I will continue demonstrating the importance of perspective along with the long term value of managing and maintaining your trees and gardens. Until next time don’t forget to look in the mirror and out your windows as we strive to live in a healthier way. For ourselves and the world around us.
Body Mind and Soul – Trees and Gardens