A Visit to Mister Greenleaf

by Ingrid Prohaska

“May I invite you into my garden?” Sometimes we spoke over the fence, like neighbours often do, but this was the first time Mr. Greenleaf had asked me to visit his garden.

I always had troubles with my plants and Mr. Greenleaf was known as the man with the green thumb. I told him about my problems and so I came into his little paradise.
I went on a stoned path. Beside the path were flowers, each more beautiful than the others. You could feel that he really loved his work in the garden.

“Follow me” Mr. Greenleaf went towards his glasshouse.
“Oh, what a beautiful flower!” I said when I saw this flower. I thought, it was the most beautiful plant, I could see in his garden. “What is your secret?” I asked.
He smiled “Come with me.”

We went into the glasshouse and stopped at a sack of seeds. He took a handful seeds and let them ran through his fingers. “They all have the same genes” he told me “you can handle them right or wrong.”
He moved his arm to follow him. He stopped at a table. Many pots stood on the table. “First you put the seed in a pot with good earth. The earth outside is too hard for a seed. The seed’ll have only a very small chance of sprouting.” He chose a pot and while he hold the pot with his right hand, his left hand moved into a big pot with good wet earth and he put the earth into a small pot. Then he put the seed in the middle of the pot and pressed it with his thumb into the earth.

“So, this seed has its chance” he smiled. “But now all depends on our care. Give the seed enough water, but not too much. Take care that the air is wet enough and that the seed gets enough sun. It needs warm air. Handle the seed with care, do it with love, give the seed time, be patient. If everything is all right, a few weeks later you’ll see a sprout. It is always a great pleasure for me when the sprout appears. But this is only the beginning. The sprout also needs the same care. Handle the sprout with care, do it with love and - don’t laugh at me – I always speak to the sprouts.

A few weeks later you have seen the sprout grown up. Now you can put the pot outside during the day. But bring it inside for the night. It could be too cold for the plant. Keep patient and keep handling the plant with care, give love to it and well – speak to the plant.

You’ll see, a few weeks later you can see the first flower buds. The plant is now strong enough to put it outside. Continue to handle it with care, give love to it and – maybe speak to it.
One day the buds will be open and you will be happy. The flower will give you a lot of pleasure; you will see.

So, all over I tell you: Be careful, you can have seeds with the best genes. If you don’t handle them with care and love, they only have a little chance to become what they could have become.”

Copyright © 2007 Ingrid Prohaska

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