How to Rekindle Romance in the Garden

George Ball, the proprietor of Heronswood Nursery (a part of Burpee)in Pennsylvania , writes a weekly blog about all things horticultural.

Recently he took time to reflect on how gardening could enhance romance:

“How to rekindle the fires of romance? Not long ago Sherwin-Williams, the paint company, suggested couples might rediscover their romance by, yes, painting together. Wives and husbands, they had learned, split home improvement tasks into two types: his and hers. The company presented home painting projects as a way for couples to reconnect, share some laughs, enhance their home and sense of shared achievement.

“Our company, Burpee, using focus groups, found a similar divide when it comes to gardening. “She grows it and I eat it,” and “He grows it and I cook it,” were common refrains. Paradise Lost! Romance stops at the garden gate-precisely where it should begin.

“Research demonstrates that when couples share the unpaid responsibilities of the home, the happier they are. I can think of no better place to work as a team than the garden, the home’s true “living room”.

“Gardening allows couples to engage in multiple ways. They plan, ready, and lovingly tend their garden. They contend with weather, and a colorful mix of challenges, mishaps, surprises, disappointments and triumphs. Together they admire, harvest and dine on the results. Can’t do that with your laptops or iPhones.

“The garden becomes a collective work of imagination. A few steps into your backyard and you’re there: your own spa-theatre-dreamscape-ashram-sensorium-cathedral-oasis-refuge-herbarium-cabinet of wonders. Your joint labor of love is a place of meditation, exercise, natural marvels, spectacle, aesthetic beauty, fragrance and color.

“Another thing. The garden is a veritable Shangri-la of romance. Ask any passing bee, dragonfly, butterfly or hummingbird. ….. Look out your back door. Love is in the air.“