Blissful Exhaustion

There is a type of exhaustion that brings a contented smile to the faces of gardeners. It is the feeling that can only come from a day’s work in the garden.

Our backs may feel sore, muscles in our hands may ache from a day of digging, dividing and planting, and knees may creak and crunch a bit more after hours of squatting, kneeling and crawling around in the garden, but we are happy.

It is a wonderful, blissful exhaustion complete with rosy cheeks, dirty nails and muddy boots. Hoses are tangled, mud-caked trowels and pruners needing cleaning and oiling, but when the day is over we can sit back and look upon our gardens full of new life, new plants and new promises of a beautiful season. I love sitting on a bench in the park where I garden and watching visitors stop and admire all the gardens.

Gardening at the park is unlike gardening at home. Here, the gardens inspire strangers to stop and talk. Soon strangers become familiar faces to greet with warm smiles and hugs. And at the end of the day, as I cart my tools back to the car, worn out but happy, a new friend from the park stops to say thank you for all of our hard work, and with those simply words I am ready for another day tending the gardens at the park.

Jenny Koester, AKA The Landless Gardener, is the Garden Blog Editor for Horticulture magazine.