We all have different reasons for gardening. Whatever the specific pleasure we get out of it, the act of gardening is a rewarding and fulfilling exercise that satisfies the four key components of the complete human personality: the physical, the emotional, the intellectual and the spiritual.

THE PHYSICAL The key to success in any garden is physical involvement. Unless you have a full-time gardener to do all the work for you (but then it could be argued, you are not a gardener at all), you know very well just how much physical effort it takes to build and maintain a garden. It is a never-ending process of digging and raking, bending and stretching, kneeling and planting, lifting and carrying. Simply pulling a rake over grass, or prying out dandelions with a trowel, digging a hole for a new tree or clearing ground of pebbles for a lawn can put the body through its paces. Planting a tree or shrub, for example, is not as simple as it sounds. You need to be able to bend and stretch, lift and kneel. It is a physical challenge that calls for flexibility, strength and stamina. All this activity gets the heart pumping, puts clean air into the lungs and gives muscles a good workout. The gardener comes away with a physical weariness that many described as healthy and wholesome.

THE INTELLECTUAL You cannot garden without making decisions, and to make sound decisions, you need to think carefully about what you are doing and how you intend to go about it. Gardening successfully requires research: if we want our plants to flourish, we need to find out what conditions they require before planting. Too often, planting schemes fail because no time was spent on details. We also need to learn the language of plants. Unless we get to know correct botanical names, there is a good chance we will buy the wrong plant. Expressing ourselves artistically also challenges the intellect. There are so many things to figure out. Fitting together the puzzle of color schemes, bloom times, plant sizes, foliage and texture to create a pleasing picture is rigorous intellectual exercise. From an engineering perspective, we grapple with the mathematics and physics of building walls and paths, arches and arbors.

THE EMOTIONAL At its best, a garden satisfies our emotional needs for both socializing and solitude. When socializing with family and friends -- whether it is a dinner party on a patio, a beer break on a bench with a friend, a relaxed soiree on a lawn or a lavish wedding on a terrace -- the garden ceases to be the focus of attention and becomes a backdrop, a comfortable stage for these important interactions. In these moments, we completely forget about the garden, although its intrinsic beauty and serenity make an intangible but essential contribution to our emotional well-being. With all its sensual and tactile components -- the sweet scent of roses, the soft touch of foliage, the warmth of sunlight, the soothing sound of birdsong, the calm flow of water in a pond -- the garden satisfies our need for peace and contentment, safety and tranquility. Alone or with friends, the garden is a place to find deep emotional nourishment and healing.

THE SPIRITUAL In a small way, we help make a happier, healthier world. Gardening enriches and expands our moral centre - the part of us that desires to do something to make things better and more beautiful. When we garden, we cooperate in a small way in helping the world to be a healthier, more attractive, more desirable, more tolerable place to live. Many gardeners today like to grow their own vegetables and fruit because they want to make sure the produce is fresh and free from chemicals and pesticides. Others like the idea of creating mini-ecosystems that are sustainable and contribute in a small way to the preservation, healing and renewal of the environment.  If we care whether a plant lives or dies, it is not such a leap for us to think about caring if people elsewhere in the world live or die.