raindrop |
I’m fairly disciplined when it comes to labelling plants especially herbaceous ones, but I draw the line at labelling individual bulbs (unless they are one-offs like the purpley-black persica fritillaria or picaso calla lily – also noted by their absences so far). It was probably my science lessons at school where I learned to label everything (contents & date) rather than from watching my gardening mother. She didn’t keep a diary, shopping or to-do list (so she couldn’t afford to procrastinate). She owned a telephone book but hardly needed it and prided herself with her skills in mental arithmetic, as she grew up in times when people relied on their brains more than today. The main difference between our mind-sets though was that she believed that everything she had to do in life was important, whereas I feel I’m still trying to find a purpose. It never occurred to her to label her plants.
I wouldn’t be able to tell you where my daffodils are planted, I’ve forked through them so many times it's a surprise that they still pop up. I can locate the tulips, only because they are spaced like a row of soldiers in the border in front of the kitchen window. No doubt they’ll be saluting me soon.
However, I do remember where I planted the drifts of galanthus in random patterns. Maybe it’s because they are unfinished business ...
Bluma Zeigarnik was a Russian lady psychologist who carried out experiments based on the observation that waiters were more likely to remember unpaid orders. Her tests showed that, in general, people remember uncompleted or interrupted tasks better than completed tasks. The Zeigarnik effect is often given credit for the success of suspense thrillers, cliff-hanging soap operas, video games and advertising campaigns which rely on the fact that the human brain has evolved to finish what it started. It even suggests that students preparing for exams who engage in sports or other extra-curricula activities are more likely to absorb their revision, as long as they are motivated, compared to those who study non-stop. However, other researchers who tried to replicate Bluma’s experiments did not draw the same conclusion, possibly due to the motivation factor.
My conclusion is that I remember what I want to and if one bulb flowers out of thirty then it motivates me to keep track of the remaining twenty-nine.
snowdrop |
On the other hand, I certainly wont forget this galanthus in a hurry, even though it has completed its task. I wonder if Bluma was alive today, would she hypothesise that weather interrupting the bloom makes it more memorable ?
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