At age four, I found a garden, living underneath the kitchen floor. It was hiding behind leftover patches of linoleum on the worn-out floor my mother was having removed. The workman was busy when the garden caught my attention. My eyes became glued to the patterns of embroidered roses blooming across my childhood landscape. I saw them and felt a sense of joy and adventure. This excitement felt like a feeling to go forward into something I knew nothing about. My passion and connection to garden started at that exact moment.
00:43
When spring arrived,I ran so fast through the house, speeding ahead of my mother'svoice. I pulled on my red corduroy jumper and my grey plaid woolhat before my mother could get her jacket on. I catapulted out of thefront screen door and threw myself on a fresh carpet ofgrass. Excited, I bounced to my feet and flipped three more cartwheels beforelanding by her side. Mother dear was in the garden busy breaking upthe soil, and I sat beside her, playing with mud pies in the flowerbed. When her work was done, she rewarded me with an ice-cold glassof bittersweet lemonade and then lined my shoes with sprigs ofmint to cool off my feet.
01:34
My mother cooked withthe colors and textures of her garden. She baked yams and squash andheirloom tomatoes and carrots. She fed love to a generation ofpeople with purple hull peas and greens. It seems that during mychildhood, the blooms from my mother's gardens have healed all the wayfrom her halo to the roots on the soles of our feet. In our lastconversation before her death, she encouraged me to go anywhere in theworld that would make me happy.
02:16
Since then, I haveplanted her gardens through art installations throughout theworld, in countries of the people that I meet. Now they are liningparks and courtyards, painted on walls and even in blighted lots off thestreet. If you were in Berlin, Germany, you would have seen my gardenat Stilwerk Design Center, where rosemary and lavender, hydrangea andlemon balm trailed up the glass elevators to all six floors. In 2009,I planted "Philosophers Garden," a garden mural, bloomingat the historic Frederick Douglass High School in Memphis,Tennessee. This school’s garden fed an entire community and washonored by Eleanor Roosevelt during the Great Depression. Again, in 2011,I planted at Court Square Park -- six entry gardens with 80 varietiesof deliciously fragrant floribunda and hybrid tea roses.
03:27
Gardening has taughtme that planting and growing a garden is the same process as creating ourlives. This process of creation begins in the spring, when you breakup the soil and start anew. Then it's time to clear out the deadleaves, debris and roots of the winter. The gardener must then makesure that a good disposition and the proper nutrients are correctlymixed in the soil. Then it's important to aerate the topsoil andleave it loosely packed on the surface. You won't get those beautifulblooms in life until you first do the work just right. When ourgardens are balanced with care, we can harvest the beauty of living a lifeof grace.
04:22
In theforests, when trees realize through their roots that another tree issick, they will send a portion of their nutrients to that tree tohelp them to heal. They never think about what will happen to them orfeel vulnerable when they do. When a tree is dying, it releases allof its nutrients to other trees that need it the most. Below the surface,we are all connected by our roots and sharing nutrients with eachother.It's only when we come together that we can honestly grow. It's thesame for humans in the garden of hardship. In this garden, when thecaterpillar transforms into a chrysalis, this involves some struggle.Butit's a challenge with a purpose. Without this painful fight to breakfree from the confines of the cocoon, the newly formed butterfly can'tstrengthen its wings. Without the battle, the butterfly dies without evertaking flight.
05:30
My life'swork is to illustrate how to integrate human connectivity into thegarden. Gardens are full of magical wisdom for thistransformation. Mother Nature is creative energy waiting to beborn. Gardens are a mirror that cast their own reflection into ourwaking lives.
05:57
So nurture yourtalents and strengths while you appreciate all you've beengiven. Remain humble to healing. And maintain compassion forothers. Cultivate your garden for giving and plant those seeds forthe future. The garden is the world living deep inside of you.
06:21
Thank you.
06:22
(Applause)
06:23
(Cheers)
06:24
(Applause)
中文翻译如下：
四岁的时候，我发现了一个花园 就在厨房的地板底下的一个花园。 它藏在破地板上的几块残留的油毡布后面， 我妈妈正在让人撕掉这些油毡布。 工人正忙活着的时候，花园立刻吸引了我。 我的眼睛出神地盯着那些刺绣玫瑰图案， 它们在我童年的原野上恣意绽放。 看到这些玫瑰，我感到一丝快乐和新奇。
00:32
这种激动的感觉 好像在敦促我去探索未知的事情。 我对花园的热情和连通就在那一刻开启了！
00:43
春天终于来临，我在家里快速跑过， 把妈妈喊我的声音远远抛在身后。 妈还没来得及穿外衣，我已穿好灯芯绒连衫裤， 戴好了灰格羊毛帽子。 我箭一样地跑出前纱门， 一下子冲到像新毯子一样的草坪上。 激动难耐的我又跳起来，连做3个侧手翻， 正好落在妈妈身旁。 我亲爱的妈妈在花园里 忙着翻土， 我坐在妈妈身旁， 在花坛里的玩起了泥巴。 妈妈干完活后， 她先奖了我一杯又苦又甜的冰镇柠檬水， 然后把我的鞋和薄荷枝排放在一起， 让我的脚凉下来.
01:34
妈就用花园里不同颜色和口感的蔬菜煮菜， 烤芋头、南瓜， 还烤传统西红柿和胡萝卜。 她用紫芸豆和青菜， 把爱喂养给一代人。 似乎在我的童年里， 妈妈花园里的那些花儿 愈合了从她的头一直到我们脚底根部。 在她去世前我们最后一次的谈话中， 她鼓励我 去世界上任何能让我快乐的地方。
02:16
从那时起， 我就在所结识的世界各地朋友的国家， 通过艺术装扮的方式种植妈妈的花园。 现在，它们正装点着公园和庭院、 画在墙上甚至画在街边破旧不堪的地段。 如果你在德国柏林的话， 可以在 Stilwerk 设计中心看到我的花园， 我用迷迭香和薰衣草、绣球和柠檬香薄荷 装扮了从一楼到六楼去往玻璃电梯的通道。 在 2009年，我种植了"哲学家花园"， 这是一个花园壁画， 盛开在田纳西州孟菲斯市里 历史悠久的弗雷德里·克道格拉斯高中。 大萧条时期，这所学校的花园抚慰了整个社区， 还得到了总统夫人埃莉诺·罗斯福的赞扬。 还有，2011年 在法院广场公园， 我种植了6个公园入口处花园， 用了80种美味芬芳的丰花月季 和各种各样的茶玫瑰进行装扮。
03:27
园艺教会了我一个道理—— 种植打理花园与我们创造生活的过程一样。 创造的过程始于春天， 从你翻土的那一刻，就开启了新的过程。 接下来需要清除枯叶， 清理冬天过后的植物残枝和根。 园丁必须要确保 对土壤进行良好处理， 并在土壤中均衡配置养分。 接下来，表层土壤的通气也很重要， 要保持表层土壤的松软。 你首先做好所有该做的事情， 才会收获生活中那些美丽的花朵。 只有精心照料好我们的花园， 才会收获优雅生活的美丽。
04:22
在森林里， 当树木通过根部发现另一棵树生病时， 它们会将一部分养料送给那棵树， 以帮助其康复。它们从没想过这么做的后果， 或者这样做会不会受伤害自己。 当一棵树快死的时候， 它把所有的养分释放给最需要营养的其它树。 表层下面, 我们通过根连接彼此， 并分享养分。 只有当我们走到一起，才会实实在在地成长。 在艰苦花园里，人类也是一样。 在这个花园里, 当毛毛虫变成蛹时, 必须要经历一番挣扎。 然而，这是一项有目的之挑战。 不经历这场痛苦之战 去挣脱茧的束缚, 新成型的蝴蝶就无法强壮其翅膀； 不经历战斗，蝴蝶就会未曾飞翔而直接死亡。
05:30
我一生的工作—— 就是为了展示如何将人类连通融入到花园里。 花园里充满了适应这种转变的神奇智慧， 大自然母亲就是即将出生的创新能量； 花园就是一面镜子， 把自己的倒影投射到我们觉醒的生活中。
05:57
因此，在感激被赋予的一切的同时， 你要培养你的才华和长处； 在愈合面前，保持谦卑， 并对他人的抱有同情之心。 培育花园是为了给予， 并为将来提前播种。 这花园就是生活在你内心深处的世界。
06:21
谢谢。
06:22
（掌声）
06:23
（欢呼声）
06:24
（掌声）