Wabi-Sabi Gardening

The all-knowing, all-seeing, all-spying internet algorithms pointed me toward a video last week that explained a little about the concept of wabi-sabi.

So why not relate it to gardening?

The concept, which I’ll admit to having only a tiny understanding of, is from Japanese culture. Wabi relates to the beauty found in imperfection. Sabi relates to how nothing lasts forever.

And sometimes a third concept is added: nothing is really ever finished.

So if your garden isn’t perfect, isn’t finished, and you accept that it isn’t going to last forever, you can just tell anyone who might criticize it or make a comment or two or ten about what hasn’t been done yet, that it’s a wabi-sabi garden.

It fits a variety of situations.

For example, wouldn’t it be perfect if that clematis clambering through that rose shrub was blooming at the same time as the rose? But they aren’t blooming together. And by the time the clematis starts to bloom, the roses will be fading, so I’m going to call it a wabi-sabi moment in my garden. It’s not perfect, but it still has a certain charm.

And the new edging I dug around the garden borders in back? That edging is not perfect so if someone points out that maybe I should take off just a bit more in one spot or another, I’ll just explain wabi-sabi. I accept my imperfect edging.

And as the summer solstice arrives in just a day or so, someone might point out that the days are now getting shorter. We are heading closer to the end of the growing season with each day! Well, nothing is permanent, so wabi-sabi. I accept that. (But there’s a lot of growing time left so I’m not going to throw down my gardening gloves and call it quits this soon!)

I’m going to relax and enjoy my garden full of imperfections, my garden that won’t last forever, my garden that will always present me with something I should do.

It’s a wabi-sabi kind of garden.