Swiss chard in the afternoon sunlight
A garden should always be bursting, brimful with that wonderful and impossible-to-capture-in-words emotion called joy. It should radiate joy from every single square-millimetre of its being; singing, at full volume, of the living, growing beauty of all and everything it contains.
This is not to say that a garden should be overflowing with colourful blooms, fruitful trees and ready to harvest vegetables in order for it to exude joy: ‘garden joy’ is all of this, none of this and something else altogether. It is purely a magical feeling.
It has long been recognised, even scientifically, that walking, sitting, working, relaxing or actively working in a garden brings with it a peace of mind and spirit that nourishes, rejuvenates and heals maladies such as stress, depression and other related ills of ‘modern’ life with certain plants and focal points emitting more healing power than others.
Gardening is back-breaking work but brings sheer joy when the garden is in bloom
Take, for example, that patch of brilliantly-hued, crisp and crunchy, organically grown Swiss chard/leaf beat — the patch over there, lightly sheltered by the young mango tree planted a couple of years ago and thriving. The Swiss chard, filtering early afternoon sunlight, glows pink and pinker, shot through with gold, flaunting rainbows and nourishment for all to see and wonder at. Inside its luscious stems and light-filled leaves is, along with other health-boosting nutrients, all the magnesium a brain needs to shrug off depression, if watching plants sway, enticingly, in the soft breeze hasn’t already banished depression and replaced it with awed joy.
Oh look! The nargis (Narcissus poeticus) have burst into perfumed bloom overnight and are performing a lilting dance of utter delight amongst the spreading, dappled shade of an Amaltas tree and the brilliant mass of ranunculous, planted and forgotten two years ago now, are pushing through the ground to burst back into the light.
Then there are sunflowers — just thinking of them brings a smile to my face! Simple to grow and available in a whole host of colours from creamy whites and lemony yellows right through to rich chocolate and deep, velvety reds, these fast growers radiate unbridled joy to anyone who sees them. From dwarf to medium and gigantic in height, sunflowers are, quite literally, smiles on stems. Their nutritious, crunchy-munchy seeds are high in the amino acid phenylalanine which magically turns into norepinephrine — a recognised antidepressant.