gardeners are a hopeful kind

 

The act of planting is a gesture of hope. Whether seed or root, shrub or tree, something that will produce food, or a plant that is purely ornamental, there is no certainty that what is planted will grow and succeed. True, there are some things that are more likely to succeed and some things that are more likely to fail, but whether likely or unlikely, it is still a hope that inspires the planting. I’ve been following the Instagram feeds of some rose breeders. Rose breeding is truly an act of hope and love, especially as a hobbyist. David Austin Roses plants about 300,000 seeds a year, and from these, only one to three of the resulting plants are considered suitable for release. One seed of 100,000. That’s a lot of seeds to plant for a home gardener. And even with these odds, and with extensive testing for 13 years before the chosen ones are released, there is no guarantee that these plants will succeed. There are many, many David Austin releases that have been discontinued, for various reasons, but most likely reasons such as poor growth in the very different and varied climate of the United States compared to the UK, or lack of market popularity (usually due to poor growth, since beauty of the flower is usually not a question). Orchid breeders have an even tougher time of it, since some orchids take an average of 7 years from seed to bloom, and those 7 years can be a total bust if the cross does not achieve the goals of the breeder. That’s even assuming one can get the dust-like seeds to germinate and grow, a process that in artificial conditions requires precise sterile conditions and the inoculation of specific fungi that help the plant survive without killing the embryonic orchid. In the wild, the success of one seed in a million growing to adulthood would be high success. Those breeding fruit trees can wait many years to see what results. Those plant breeders working with easier to grow plants, plants with seeds that are easy to germinate, plants and seeds that are of a size that are easier to handle by human hands, and plants that grow from seeds to adulthood rapidly, are much more likely to see the success from their labors, but even they have no guarantee of success. It is a process of hope. But even if we are planting a product of their success, that result of 13 years of growing and hoping, the result of planting carefully nurturing 300,000 seeds to bloom, is no guarantee of success. It is still a process of hope. At this time of global discord, it is my thought that this is hope that we need. So I encourage you to go out and plant something. Especially if you are down about recent events. Nurture a seed, a root, a shrub or a tree. Plant some hope.