Comparing gardening to graphic design makes for a flimsy metaphor, but an analogy can be drawn from the “outgrowth” of each, so to speak.

I hate gardening. Pulling weeds, mowing, sweating a lot, hauling mulch around – not really my thing, but my husband and I do it (with occasional weekend help from visiting offspring), mainly because it’s our first line of defense against the beautiful but encroaching wilderness that surrounds our house. Choosing plants and planting them is not so bad, but the plants must have a good attitude. I do not tolerate plants that must be pampered to survive. (My husband has a greenhouse for his pet palm trees and cactus that he hauls in and out seasonally.) But as far as I’m concerned, you, plant, make it through the pests, the deer, plant diseases, the droughts, the heavy rains, and the freezes, or you are out of here.

I love graphic design. I learn something new everyday when I’m tooling around in Photoshop and InDesign. I enjoy the positive reactions of people when everything falls into place and looks good. Graphic design is relatively easy to accomplish compared to gardening, so really the analogy could start here: once it is DONE – everything mowed and orderly and blooming, attracting hummingbirds and butterflies and honeybees, I’m feeling all is well with my world.