Dear Reader:

If I had a Valentine for every plant in my garden… hearts would be placed by each bush, tree, and flower! The love affair between man and plants originated as a symbiotic relationship …where not only did we co-exist… but we shared the most important ingredient for life-AIR-BREATH!

Don’t you remember learning the biggest word you had ever heard …in science class… when the teacher wrote a word on the board that took up almost the whole length of the blackboard? For some reason elementary students can remember that word when they still can’t spell their whole name.

As kids I think we figured any word that big must be really important!

PHOTOSYNTHESIS!!!!!!!!!

When the teacher explained what photosynthesis was and did… and how none of us would be here without plants … there would be no life… I suddenly had a much deeper appreciation for those wildflowers I carelessly picked walking to and from school each day… randomly tossing them away before entering school or home.

Through photosynthesis humans can breathe in the oxygen that was produced and survive. Together we make a cycle-plants help humans breathe by providing us with oxygen and humans help plants breathe by providing them carbon dioxide. ( plants breathe through their leaves)

In Africa … there is a word Ubuntu that means ” I am because you are, you are because I am.” I think when it comes to plants and animals ( people included) we are all alive because we each depend on each other to survive… and not just survive… but thrive in God’s carefully planned world.

So until tomorrow… Go hug a tree, pat a plant, be a friend to a flower and clap before a beautiful bush… Talk to the plants and thank them… they really do understand!

Today is my favorite day… Winnie the Pooh