Like so many Americans, I watched Game 7 of the World Series last night and was rooting for the Cubs. (How can someone who lives in Massachusetts, where the Red Sox were under the “Curse of the Bambino” for so long not cheer the Cubs on?) This game was everything you want a World Series final to be: well matched teams, back and forth scoring, highs and lows on both sides and great passion.

Of course, this made me think of the garden.

In so many ways tending a landscape is a great deal like baseball. First of all, no one person is in charge. The results are a team effort. Even when a landscape is under a single gardener’s thumb, that person draws on the efforts of others. The growers who produce the plants; the suppliers who produce the soil amendments, tools and other supplies;  the garden centers that stock those products and plants; the friends and fellow plant geeks who pass along their discoveries; and all those who have planted in years past and share their advice and expertise.

Yes, to plant a garden is a team effort.

In baseball and growing of plants, weather also plays a starring role. Will it rain? How much rain and for how long? How does the humidity, clear or cloudy skies, and cold/warm temperatures figure into the mix?

Growing plants is similar to baseball in that both require patience. Extreme patience. We need to be willing to watch as things unfold, and the experience (as life itself) can’t be rushed.

We could go on with such comparisons, for for now let’s just leave it with this: whether a goal is winning The World Series or growing a particular plant or garden, is it really a curse if we don’t succeed? Could it be that it’s really all about the process, not the final goal?

In the garden and on the ball field, we’re in partnership with the natural world. Weather plays a role, and when we’re blessed to be in an open ballpark, we’re outdoors. And Mother Nature always reminds us that in sports, gardens and the rest of life there is no such thing as perfection…unless, of course, we think of the imperfect as being absolutely perfect.

Play ball and play in the dirt. Just get out there an PLAY.

And of course, in baseball and the landscape, there is always next season. If your team or garden didn’t thrive this year, you can look forward to next spring.

Congratulations to the Chicago Cubs and all their fans. Enjoy what you’ve cultivated. Relish in the harvest. But don’t forget how much pleasure you have grown in each and every baseball season. Whether you’ve won the World Series or not, the process isn’t a curse, it’s a blessing.