GPOD Vignettes: The Plants That Speak to Us

12.09.2024 - 04:55 / finegardening.com / GPOD Contributor

Hi GPODers!

I’m finally back with another installment of GPOD Vignettes, a compilation of submissions too short for their own post but still worthy of sharing. If you missed the first two installments, check those out here: GPOD Vignettes #1 and Vignettes #2.

It seems to be a happy coincidence, or my own mind finding connections in absolutely unrelated messages, but as I compile these short submissions sent in over the course of several weeks I can’t help but find a common thread. Last time all of the submissions focused on small gardens and spaces, while this installment is a little more sentimental. As I browsed through the emails and collected the images, I realized all of the photos were of very specific plants or moments that, for whatever reason, caught the gardener’s eye and compelled them to snap a photo. It wasn’t until I looked at this very first submission from Mary White-Edwards that it all clicked, sometimes a plant or a garden scene just speaks to us. Speaks to our interests, our sense of wonder, or simply to our soul. For whatever reason, these plants spoke to these gardeners and we are all lucky that each gardener listened, captured, and shared.

Photo of the day by Mary White-Edwards, Longview, TX. I love roses and this close up just spoke to me.

A garden doesn’t need to be complex to be beautiful, and a plant doesn’t need to be exotic to catch and eye. The humble pink rose, in all of its ruffled glory, is always worth a second to smell, admire, and even photograph if the moment is right. From the vibrant color to the tiny veins in the petals that can just barely be seen, Mary captured this rose at its most beautiful.

I am a home gardener for 15 years. And planted cucumbers each year. I got twin