Article December 27, 1999 Issue

Bad roots?

Your heritage is better than you can imagine.

By Susan Ettinger

"Who am I, really?" was my burning question. Interestingly, the answers I sought first came with a lesson in gardening.

My husband and I had been landscaping our small patio area. Neither of us had any experience as gardeners, so when the root base of our bougainvillea fell apart during planting, we didn't know that this is considered disastrous to the health of the plant. As weeks passed and no growth was evident, we consulted our local nursery and discovered that the diagnosis for our bougainvillea was fatal.

Early one morning, as I lay in bed thinking about our garden, I remembered how enthusiastically we had anticipated the finished product in all its colorful splendor. But the beautiful mental picture I'd had was now marred. I remembered the beauty and grace of the gardens that had inspired us to want one of our own. The essence of those surroundings—their arrangement, dimension, color, structure, and unified balance—was the true substance of a beautiful garden, and I yearned for those qualities.

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