Dr. Grow: The gift of wonder

Lately I've been thinking about what to give each of you for Christmas. My first idea was to insert a package of garden seed into each paper the day the column is published. After I determined the cost, I decided I needed to go to plan B. I finally got my inspiration the middle of last week.

My two-year-old granddaughter, Kelsi and I were sitting on the sofa in my living room one afternoon reading her books. I looked up and saw in the front yard a female whitetail deer. I told Kelsi to quietly go to the sliding glass door so she could get closer to the deer. I told her to be very still or the deer would run away.

Kelsi tiptoed to the door and stood very still. Then Kelsi began to wave to the doe with her pinky finger. The doe must have seen her because she stopped feeding and looked directly at Kelsi. Kelsi stood still as long as she could. Then with all her might she waved both arms as high and as far as she could reach while jumping up and down.

I thought to myself, "You blew it kid, the deer is going to take off now. You missed your chance to watch her." To my amazement the deer cocked her head a little to the left and stared at Kelsi. All of a sudden the deer began to wave its tail. Kelsi giggled. Then Kelsi saved again. The deer stood still for a moment and again waved its tail. This exchange of hand waves, giggles, and tail waves, was repeated 4 or 5 times. Finally the doe began to move off as Kelsi stood there and watched.

I saw this whole scene and wished that I had a camcorder. But as usual PopPop was cameraless at the Kodak moment. All of a sudden I began to realize that I had just been given an extraordinary gift from my granddaughter. I walked over to her and sat on the floor so we could be face to face. Sure enough, my perspective at her 2'6" was totally different than at my 6'3".

She didn't know that you had to be still around a deer or it would run off. Instead she jumped up and down and waved. She didn't know you had to be quiet, she just giggled to my heart's content. If she had listened to PopPop, I would never have seen her communicate with one of God's beautiful creatures.

For Christmas I would like to share with you this most wonderful gift given to me by Kelsi, the gift of uninhibited wonder. The perfect place to enjoy this gift is in your yard, landscape, or garden. Go outside, look at things from a different perspective, and ask yourself some questions.

Can you figure out how old a white pine tree is? Just count the number of whorls of branches. Each whorl represents one year of growth.

Most of the cones on a white pine are found in the top of the tree. Have you ever wondered why? I"m sure God has a reason.

Did you know that you can identify most trees by the shape of their buds? The buds on twigs of shagbark hickory are egg-shaped and covered with silky hairs. Buds of tulip poplar look like praying hands. Those of beech are so long and pointed that they look like the head of a spear.

Have you looked at the bloom on a bleeding heart? It looks like a small heart that is bleeding drops of blood.

Have you ever felt the sandpapery surface of the leaf of a slippery elm? I think someone was being factitious when they named this elm "slipper."

Do you ever stop to smell the roses? The subtle differences in the fragrances will astound you.

I hope that you will take the time each day to look at things through the lens of wonder. As Kelsi showed me, it only takes a minute or two. You will be delighted, awed, and humbled. The tightness in your shoulders will be gone and you may even giggle. Try it, you'll like it.

If you have trouble looking through the lens of wonder, no problem. All you have to do is borrow a two-year-old, get down on the ground with them, watch them, and do what they do.

Merry Christmas to each of you and may God bless you in this joyous season.

Paul Schnare of Cape girardeau has been in the lawn and garden business for more than 20 years. He is an adjunct professor in horticulture at Southeast Missouri State University.