I spent some time this weekend working in my rose garden. As I picked off the newly withered blooms and watered the thirsty plants, I felt a sense of connection growing between my garden and me. The drooping blooms looked like sleeping heads lolling forward on a warm autumn afternoon until the water I brought woke them from their slumber. They seemed to spring to life once again, renewed with energy. I felt a responsibility for my garden; to nurture it and to help it thrive. There’s a special relationship between a gardener and his garden, and one of the most famous relationships like this I know was between the Impressionist painter Claude Monet and his garden in the town of Giverny, France.

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