Bougainvillea As Soul Food

For 25 years, I owned a horticulture corporation. I grew the plants in my greenhouses, sold them, taught customers how to care for them, and even leased them. A division of my corporation was the interior landscaping business and I loved it. We made businesses look beautiful and made an excellent living! But it didn't begin to compare with my personal gardening. That fed my soul!

For me, gardening is not only good exercise and a way to provide fresh flowers for the table and fresh vegetables for the evening meal, it is also a spiritual experience. With good reason Martin Luther wrote, God is entirely and personally present in the wilderness, in the garden, and in the field.

Struggling with life’s priorities, building Christian character, and the miracle of the resurrection of the body are but a few of the biblical truths that unfold to me in my gardening. The teachings of Christ become crystal clear as my hands are covered with soil, or they are holding a small seedling. The light bulb goes on in my spirit and I gain a new understanding of Parable of The Seed.

People who nourish seeds and plants usually do it because their souls need food. Yes, vegetables and fruits are needed for the body, but sometimes the soul needs the beauty of flowers around them even more than they need food for their stomachs.

Bougainvillea are on my top-three list of beautiful flowering vines as "soul food". Their name comes from Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an admiral in the French Navy who discovered the plant in Brazil in 1768. Like rose bushes, they have deadly thorns (some species have had the thorns bred out), but the beauty of them growing on the fence or up the side of the house wall outweighs the danger of the thorns. They grow prolifically in several countries, and come in eighteen colors and growth patterns. For many years they lined my property and gave me beauty while they protected my property - sort of "natural barbed wire"!

Bougainvillea are rapid growing and flower all year in warm climates, especially when pinched or pruned. They grow best in moist fertile soil. Bloom cycles are typically four to six weeks. Bougainvillea grow best in very bright full sun and with frequent fertilization, but the plant requires little water to flower. As indoor houseplants in temperate regions, they can be kept small by bonsai techniques. If over-watered, Bougainvillea will not flower and may lose leaves or wilt, or even die from root decay.

I can't help but remember that God put Adam and Eve in a beautiful garden. I can't think of a more wonderful place to live! And I'll bet the "new heaven and new earth" will have beautiful Bougainvillea! I sure hope so.

(c) 2009 April Lorier

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. Romans 1:20