Put Flowers Where You Can See Them

It’s simple advice, really: put flowers where you can see them.

But it’s also revolutionary advice.

Or, at least it was to me when I first heard it. I remember reading it in a book by gardening giant Monty Don, walking over to my window, and realizing that when I looked out at my garden, most of my favorite plants and flowers were out of view.

So much of my work – and my joy – was hidden from my own eyes unless I ventured out into the garden itself.

I had unintentionally made it hard to enjoy my own garden.

So in the last few years, I’ve moved things around a bit. I shifted the compost bin to the side, to make way for hellebores and epimediums and bleeding hearts that I can now see blooming from the dining room.

I planted some of my favorite perennials along the fence line that’s visible from the kitchen sink. I added another raised bed, also along the fence, so that I could appreciate the various greens and blues and maroons of the lettuces and kales before they landed on my plate.

That all was pretty simple. Except.

There was one space left. A bit of an eyesore, really.

The concrete patio.

Much to my eternal annoyance, the main focal point from the kitchen window is a massive concrete patio that the previous owners had poured. It’s great for entertaining, I suppose. But it’s a barren sort of landscape, surrounded by the jungle garden I’ve developed.

But in the spirit of putting flowers where I can see them, this year I created an island of flower pots. A purple-podded pole bean tower anchors the arrangement, surrounded by a hodge-podge of pretties. Tithonia, celosia, blue butterfly peas, and blue-centered daisies – all sortof haphazardly grouped together. It’s a riot of color.

But now, when I look out on my backyard as I drink my coffee, I don’t see the pavement. I see color. I see plants that I grew from seed. I see my little plant babies. I see the resident hummingbird perching on a twig, taking a break to survey the scene.

It makes me smile.

Yesterday I was standing at my kitchen sink, looking at those flowers while chatting with a political strategist, who is as frustrated as I am about Democrats not touting out accomplishments and leading from fear rather than confidence.

And I realized: Democrats don’t plant our flowers where we can see them.

It’s not that we’re hiding accomplishments, necessarily, but – just like those flowers that are gorgeous but just out of view – we’re not centering those accomplishments. We’re not putting them out front.

That means we’re trusting that people (and this includes ourselves) will look for them, and see them, and appreciate them for what they are.

Just as you shouldn’t put your most beautiful flowers just outside your view, you shouldn’t have to dig deep into a policy document to see the great things that Democrats are doing.

But there’s good news, here. It was an easy fix for me to move some things around to showcase the flowers that I already had.

So much the same here. We already have the flowers – oodles of them. And they’re gorgeous!

Now we just have to make sure they’re out front, where they can be seen and appreciated by everyone.

Let’s get to work.

Actions for the Week of July 18, 2023

Show Don’t Tell: Centering Progress Through National Month of Action!

Speaking of not hiding our flowers, Indivisible is launching the Powering Progress campaign to celebrate the tangible benefits (millions of jobs! reliable renewable energy! lower healthcare costs!) of the Inflation Reduction Act. Throughout the entire month of August, Indivisible chapters will be taking part in relatively simple actions to help spread the word about the good work that Democrats are doing.

With Democrats Things Get Better!

Political strategist Simon Rosenberg has been beating this drum – about Democrats not hiding their accomplishments – for some time. In fact, he’s got a signature presentation that he has given called With Democrats Things Get Better. He is giving that talk (virtually) again on Thursday at noon central.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OA-kfIl6SZOg-TlodIRQhA?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email#/registration

Read This! H/T Jessica Craven from Chop Wood Carry Water

Registering high school youth is incredibly powerful – and undervalued. This substack post that Jessica Crave shared today in her newsletter is so on point, and will help give you talking points the next time someone questions the value of registering young people.

Now, armed with that information, take a few minutes to consider what you could do in your own community to register young people. If you’ve got kids in a school district, why not call the high school to find out if they have a voter registration program as part of their history/social studies program?

The Civics Center has an excellent volunteer toolkit with ideas on how you can get involved (they even have postcarding opportunities for you to write to youth!) – check it out here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z2ROC7gpzyafK0h3ujzek7MUmRpvctWn/view

Blue District Dems Can Help!

From Indivisible: Join us to learn what we can do from blue districts to defeat MAGA and regain a Democratic trifecta. We’ll discuss our strategic plan to win – getting started on the call by writing letters to voters in Ohio to protect democracy and help them win protections for abortion access in their state constitution! If you have previously joined our Fighting Frontliners cohort calls we’d love for you to join this expanded cohort call! By providing your email address and registering for this event, you agree to receive email updates from Indivisible, including follow-up from this Zoom event. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking on the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of an Indivisible email.

Join the call on Monday, July 24 at 7pm central https://indivisible.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUqd-6qrT8tHd2Ww4gRqwFnr_L4cPTn3bXy?emci=cf7bd198-7e22-ee11-a9bb-00224832eb73&emdi=82dd1e8f-8b22-ee11-a9bb-00224832eb73&ceid=10758#/registration

WHEW! GO TEAM!

P.S.: Why don’t you make someone’s day and send this pep talk to a friend or two? I bet they need it.

If you’d like to sign up to get this pep talk and action list in your in-box each week, you can do that here. Welcome, friend!

P.P.S.: If you want to help support this work you can do so via Patreon at
https://www.patreon.com/smalldeedsdone or via paypal at https://www.paypal.me/smalldeeds
My deepest gratitude in advance.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for writing. I read and respond to every email! We’re in this together. Don’t you forget it.