A Wildflower Garden Made Me Wealthier than I Ever Imagined

Posted by M.S. on May 8, 2009

Do you think it is possible for a garden of wildflowers to help you gain enormous wealth?  Well, that is just what happened to me many years ago when one Spring I planted a cutting garden.  A magazine article had piqued my interest about the ease of using seeds of this type to plant a garden that would give me an abundance of free flowers.  These colorful bouquets would add color and fragrance throughout our home.

Each year I see ads for flower packet seeds for 10 cents a piece, so I knew that it wouldn’t cost much to get started.  After preparing the soil a bit, I raked in the seeds and within weeks–flowers began to bloom.

One marvelous characteristic of wildflowers that you may not know is that the more you cut them- the more they bloom! Soon, my home was overflowing with fragrant bouquets!  I began to ponder who would enjoy the abundance of these fabulous flowers as much as I did.  Then I had an inspiration!

My dad had suffered a stroke and was living in a nursing home in another city far away from where I lived, in another country at the time.  I had learned how much he valued his visits from friends and family and I decided since I couldn’t visit him as often as I would like, I would take flowers to folks at a local nursing home!  I decided to purchase inexpensive vases at garage sales which I would leave in individual resident’s rooms, and re-fill them with fresh flowers each week.

What an impact that simple act of kindness had on folks that really could use a distraction!  I quickly learned how much they cherished our weekly visits, even more than the fresh bouquets.  What the elderly folks wanted more than anything was to have someone listen to their stories and whatever was on their minds.  For the entire week, the vase of flowers was a reminder to them that someone was thinking of them.

The powerful lesson I learned in this experience is that kindness is FREE, yet priceless, and that all the money in the world does not replace the value of human interaction and compassion.

Each week as I walked out of the nursing home, I reflected on the real wealth I had.

I had a marvelous family, I was healthy, I could walk, I could talk, and I had the extreme good fortune of living in the United States– the place where people would crawl on cut glass, just for the opportunity to live in this great country!

Any of the residents at the nursing home would have traded all the money in the world for what I had for FREE!

It is good to remember that having money is great, but true wealth is the abundance of blessings you have in your life now!  Maybe in these tough times, a cutting garden could help your perspective too!

Get Started on Your Garden Here