Monthly Metaphors - The Garden

The symbolic metaphors found in gardens!

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The garden is a great metaphor for life. As gardeners, you prepare, plant, tend, harvest and mourn.  Then, just when you think you’ve got it all under control, it gets scale and drops scale poo (honeydew) all over your garden bench! (Guess what happened to me this week…)

Metaphor is such a universal literary device to use in your writing. Its purpose is to take the reader from what they already know, to what the writer wants them to imagine, by making comparisons. They can be used to give insight in a small way such as, comparing someone’s eyes to the blue of a cornflower, or, they can be used on a larger scale to represent an atmosphere, abstract concept or mood, such as the first new shoots after snow as symbolic of life after death, hope, optimism and persistence etc.

So many metaphors can be made with gardens! Growth and lifespan, optimism courage and hope; change linked to seasons, diversity, challenges, patience, nurturing and relationships; harvest and gratitude; formality and restraint; freedom, wildness and abundance; pests, predators and pollinators; and, of course, the God complex, to name a few.

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Taken literally, what we choose to plant, how we lay out the design and how we tend our gardens, all say something symbolic about us, and so, can also say something symbolic about your characters, setting and plot. For example, a character with a huge overgrown prickly hedge around their house could show their unwillingness to connect with others, whilst a garden full of neatly clipped hedges and topiary might suggest a character with a well-ordered case of perfectionism.

Metaphor can also be associated with specific types of plants. Consider the meanings of particular flowers, where a bouquet could hold a secret message. There are also meanings associated with types of trees, the symbolic shapes of bonsai, the elements represented with feng sui and the health-benefit alchemy of herbs, fruits and vegetables.

Then of course, you could also add in the metaphors associated with the specific animals that frequent the garden as well!

Some common garden metaphors you may have heard are:

Like two peas in a pod – showing identical features.

Reap what you sow – you get out what you put in.

Late bloomer – finding talents or strengths late in development.

Make hay while the sun shines – do what you can, while/when you can.

Snake in the grass – something/someone deceptive and sly

Nip it in the bud – To stop it from happening before it begins.

To lead one down the garden path - to deceive or confuse

A bad seed – someone considered bad or good for nothing.

A green thumb – someone good at gardening.

A rose amongst the thorns – the odd one out in a crowd stated as a compliment

Planting a seed – suggesting an idea

Root and branch – all of something

Weeding out – to remove the undesirable

Of course, you could take the metaphor even further and use allusion. Subtle references to other famous gardens might help your reader to associate all the elements of that story garden elements of your own story, such as, Mary Mary quite contrary, The Secret Garden, McGreggor’s garden in Peter Rabbit, The Garden of Eden, or Alice In Wonderland etc.

The possibilities are endless!

Example: garden metaphors to enhance meaning on a small scale:

They were all dressed up for a party and lined up in rows like so many flowers, each bending their beautiful petals to the sunny smiles of potential partners.

I’ll not be led down the garden path on this one! One of them is a snake in the grass and I intend to smoke them out!

Example: the garden as a metaphor for a bigger idea or abstract concept:

Inside the room there was silence. They held hands, said prayers and hunkered down around his bed. Outside the winter arrived without fanfare in a gentle drift, and the earth succumbed silently and finally to sleep.

Example: garden allusions:

This place is so big I’ll have to leave a trail of breadcrumbs to find my way out. (Hansel and Gretel)

In her heart grew a secret garden… (The Secret Garden)

So, if you’re looking to add deeper meaning and connection in your creative work, you can’t go past the garden metaphor for its simple universal appeal, though there are plenty of literary devices to choose from if you want more than metaphor. If you’d like to read more, I’ve put 50 literary devices together for you with all the explanations, templates and examples you’ll need to write like a pro! Get it here!

Keep pushing your creative boundaries and have fun!

Monique x