Planting with purpose: How intentionality matters in both AI and gardening

melissacpeneycad
Jul 8
3 min read

Over the past three weeks, I’ve spent nearly every free moment in the garden and researching which plants are best for bees and butterflies. I’ve planted a beautiful container herb garden, dug up significant areas of my lawn for garden beds, weeded, and tucked shrubs and perennial flowers into place with the kind of care that comes from being deeply invested in the outcome. I absolutely love gardening for the beauty it brings, the whole-body exercise it provides, and the way it helps me slow down and think in terms of systems, patterns, and potential.

Me and my gardening sidekick, Züri, recharging after a full day in the dirt.

I’m someone who always looks for connections between the things I love, and this season, I've been focusing on the connection between my love of gardening and my fascination with artificial intelligence.

If you think this pairing seems unlikely, I agree! However, when I step back, I have come to see both gardening and using AI as exercises in intention, and they both demand thoughtful design.

I have come to see both gardening and using AI as exercises in intention, and they both demand thoughtful design.

AI is a tool, nothing more, nothing less. Like a trowel or a trellis, it doesn't do the work for you; however, it can make the work more efficient, insightful, and impactful—if you know how to use it.

That said, AI tools are evolving quickly. We're transitioning from simple assistants to more advanced AI tools (AI agents) that can reason and take action across workflows. According to a McKinsey Digital Report, in 2023, AI tools enabled customer service agents to better assist customers by analyzing large amounts of data, including call transcripts and technical specifications, and suggesting potential responses. By 2025, some AI agents can go even further, engaging in real-time conversations with customers and independently carrying out follow-up actions, such as processing payments, detecting fraud, or arranging shipments.

However, even these more capable systems still require intentional use. Like any tool in the garden or workplace, their value depends on your purpose, your design, and how you integrate them into your broader ecosystem. That’s where thoughtfulness matters most.

In gardening, I don’t randomly toss seeds and hope for the best (except in one area of my yard that I intentionally set aside for this sort of experimentation). I choose plants based on my local soil conditions, light levels, climate, blooming time, and how each species will complement the others. I think about color, height, texture, and timing, and I plant for joy, exercise, resilience, and harmony.

Working with AI is no different. You determine your needs (use cases) and then choose your tools and frameworks based on what you are trying to achieve, whether that’s writing faster or with improved clarity, serving your customers better, or solving a tricky business challenge. You take the context into consideration, for example, your values, responsibilities, and the ethics that guide your decisions. Then you plant the seeds of your project with those principles in mind.

Designing an AI strategy for a business, a creative practice, or a personal productivity system should be as thoughtful as designing a garden. You leave space for things to bloom. You prune what no longer serves you. You adapt your environment so it supports, not stifles, what you want to grow.

And the result? Something beautiful, useful, and entirely your own.

If you’re curious about using AI in your work or life, you can start by asking yourself the same questions a gardener would, for example: