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Gardening: Do males have a place?

By Lamar Butts

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History

In the book, The History of Gardens written by ChristopherThatcher, he details the history of different countries and howthey viewed gardening and flowers. He explained that the

gardeners of ancient Egypt grew trees like sycamores, datepalms, fig trees, nut trees and pomegranate trees. They alsogrew willows. The Egyptians also grew vineyards. Althoughbeer was the drink of the common people the rich liked

drinking wine.

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History cont..

Gardens in Ancient Egypt cont.

The Egyptians also grew a wide variety of flowers including

roses, poppies, irises, daisies and cornflowers. Egyptians alsoliked their gardens to have rectangular ponds. Sometimes theywere stocked with fish. The Egyptians also liked to growfragrant trees and shrubs.

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History cont..

Greek Gardens

The Greeks were not great gardeners. They sometimes plantedtrees to provide shade around temples and other public places butpleasure gardens were rare. The Greeks did grow flowers but

usually in containers.

Although Greek travelers admired the gardens of the east, Greecegardens were usually grown for practical reasons. The Greeksgrew orchards, vineyards and vegetable gardens.

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History cont..

20th Century Gardens

At the end of the 19th century, and the beginning of the 20thcentury, some gardeners were influenced by the arts and crafts

movement. Influenced by the movement some gardeners hadan idealized view of old fashioned cottage gardens. Theydesigned gardens with trellises of flowers, neat hedges and oldfashioned English flowers.

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History cont..

In the 20th century there was a new movement in architectureand gardening called modernism. The modernists rejectedcopying old styles of gardening and advocated starting afreshusing modern materials. Modernists liked gardens to be'uncluttered'.

Another interesting fact that I came across is that in 1926 aGerman engineer called Andreas Stihl developed the chainsaw and in 1963 the first hover mower went on sale.

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History end.

Throughout history, men have been actively involved

with gardening. In the early 19th and 20th century, menwhere known for their innovations with landscaping toolsand design. As a profession, gardening has been respected

for years. So why aren't more men taking up gardening,whether it's growing vegetables or raising a plant/flower,as a hobby?

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Current issues

Why do many men still view gardening as a hobby forwomen? Is it all about flowers? Is caring for flowersequivalent to eating tofu or sprouts, instead of 'men food'like dripping red meat and potatoes?

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The answer is, SELF CONFIDENCE!

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Men have been involved in gardening for ages. Only

certain people try to generalize gardening as a femalehobby. Usually, these generalizations come from a personor persons who has issues with their own identity.

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Why the bias?

There are two reasons why I believe there are less menthan women participating in gardening as a leisure activity.

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1st: Male bashing

Imagine a situation where a guy is hanging out with his closest of malefriends and the topic of hobbies comes up. Some hobbies are boating,maybe golf, but then one guy turns and says, Gardening? I would

imagine an uproar of laughter followed by a couple derogatory anddegrading insults would follow.

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2nd: Age

Age plays a direct roll in how and what one views as a leisure activity. While 18-25 year old males prefer fast cars and good times, older adult males, 35-55 yearsof age, seem to take more pride in gardening and landscaping. This could bebecause older males are more likely to be homeowners and therefore have thetime and room to be able to partake in such activities.

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Relationship to class material

Gardening, as a leisure activity, has been an activity takenup by more women than men. Why is this?

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Biology

Men are suppose to be the providers, and women are suppose to be thenurturers. This quote is from John E. Dowling book The Great Brain Debate:Is it nature or nurture? In this book, he discusses that men and women gravitatetowards things of interest based on a biological response. Dowling explains thateven our extracurricular activities can be contributed to a biological responsewhich gives us the motivation to participate in activities.

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Culture

Leisure has been, and always will be, the first foundation of any culture.This a a quote from Josef Pieper's book Leisure: The Basis of Culture.In the book, Pieper discuss how culture influences one's leisure activities.For example, those of the Buddist culture seek spiritual relaxation throughmeditation. Buddist also consider meditation as a form of centering

oneself mentally.

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My experience

Over the past 5 weeks, I worked side by side with mygrandmother working in my her garden.

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Vegetables

We planted onions, potatoes, greens, and tomatoes.

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Flowers

We also planted California poppies, Western Houndstongue, andWind poppies.

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It has been a humbling experience because I amfinding out that gardening is hard work. Not only doyou have to turn the dirt and lay new soil, but youalso have to pull the weeds that sprout up over time,

and let me tell you weeds are relentless!

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The expert

The person that I am learning my gardening skills from ismy grandmother. My grandmother is 73 years old andhas been maintaining her personal garden for over 45years.

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Reflection

I am really taken back as to the amount of time and patience it takes to maintain ahealthy garden. You really have to stay on top of the health of your garden in orderfor it to fully bloom. I would say that it has be an enlightening experience leaninggardening, and, flowering skills from my grandmother, who has been practicing thishobby for over four decades.

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My grandmother says that, Maintaining her garden keeps her mentally strongand spiritually centered. My grandmother says that by working on her gardenallows her to get away, giving personal time of reflection and insight on issuesrelating to day to day life. I have to agree because the majority of my time wasspend thinking about other issues of the day, all the while maintaining andprepping the garden and flowing pots. Gardening reminds me a lot of meditationbecause you often escape, while working, into your own mind acting like yourown personal therapist.

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I would say it has be an enlightening experience leaning gardening, and floweringskills from my grandmother, who has been practicing this hobby for over fourdecades. It has been refreshing to learn that men have been participating in theseactivities tor centuries, even though back then it was more of a profession than aleisure activity. Gardening/flowing is something that I will take up once I own a

home. As for now, I will start off slow with this cactus I purchased last week.

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Thank you

THE END