Gardeners make wonderful friends, and I am blessed to have long term friends who are flower gardeners and who give me flower-related gifts. The most unusual item I have received recently was a roll of paper towels. Now I use a lot of paper towels, but these were for me, not only to use, but also to read.

A Little Ditty From Paper Toweling...

You see they have both pictures of flowers and sayings about gardening inscribed on them. For example, "Friends are flowers in a life's garden."

This set me thinking about how different types of friends, of all ages and backgrounds, contribute richness and variety to the landscape of one's life. It is similar to the advantage of having different types of flowers from many different places, contributing at different times and in different ways to the landscape of the garden.

Another saying relates to the importance of delayed gratification, which one certainly learns from gardening. It is "Gardening is a way of showing you believe in tomorrow." Yet another thought-provoking saying is "The flowers of all tomorrows are the seeds of today."

Unfortunately, my paper towels contain no record of who first said the gems of wisdom I have just shared with you.