Bloom Where You Are Planted

Back in the 70's, I remember seeing many a poster and needleworked hanging that proclaimed, "Bloom where you are planted."  If I had to sum up my parents' philosophy of life, that slogan might do it as well as any other.  They are big believers in making a difference where you are and starting right away and doing what you can with what you have--time and time again they told us not to wait for that mythical day when all the circumstances are right. 

That day never comes.

I thought of that slogan a few weeks ago when a Facebook friend posted this:

I've kept my little citrus tree alive for 5 months now, and am noticing something important:

Blooming where we're planted is a lovely notion, but really things bloom when they're watered.

I responded:

 

I had a similar insight with our tomato plants this year. We planted them in pots, not expecting much, as we'd never had luck before. But they grew and bloomed and we got tomatoes--if we had planted them in bigger pots, we'd have gotten bigger tomatoes. The small ones we had were delicious, but I did have many occasions to wish we had planned and planted a bit better back when we transplanted the seedlings.

I like the original "Bloom Where You Are Planted" for its simplicity.  But it's important to remember that with just a bit of extra attention, we can do more than bloom--we can bloom extravagantly.