Making Way for the New

Though today’s high temperature is forecast to be 66 degrees, it’s chilly out in the garden. The sun has withdrawn and a wind remains; the wind rarely stirs the large wind chimes so I know it’s strong when they’re ringing—and it’s not because I bumped into them.

Still, it felt good to be outdoors again doing some pruning and cleaning up. It’s easy to fall into considering gardening tasks to be a chore when I’m involved in getting other work accomplished or in a hurry to get out the door but today I’m reminded of why I enjoy gardening. In addition to continually discovering new things, I find that I can pray and think as I garden.

Today, I pruned away more of the leggy, Victoria Blue salvia stems with their sometimes shriveled leaves in order to make way for the new growth pushing up from the roots*.


*When I write about clearing out the old to make way for the new, I sometimes worry that someone will apply such principles to people—those who are “old” or otherwise considered to be “unproductive” but I never mean such things. Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12). The other day a person who has traveled the world told me, “Nowhere but in America--and maybe Europe, are ‘old’ people looked down upon—everywhere else in the world they are honored for their wisdom.”

Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained in the way of righteousness. Proverbs 16:21

Varying Levels

When Hurricane Irene headed for the East Coast of the U.S. last weekend, I had to take my hanging baskets and wind chimes down. It was really just a precaution since we only had a bit of bluster; the forecasters said that the winds would gust up to forty mph. However, we’ve had as much as eighty mph since we’ve lived in this home with no problem—that’s not to say that others didn’t have problems with their trees or that it wasn’t scary, but that my garden and home were fine.

Though very crowded around my feet, without the hanging elements, the garden looked barren above—like a big gaping hole. I realized again how important it is to me to have a garden that surrounds me on various levels. I’ve never been satisfied with a flowerbed with ankle or knee-high plants that I peer down at. In art classes, we artists are always told, that we need to vary the view in our paintings in order to keep the eye interested, “Never make any two things (or lines), even if they are like things, exactly the same.”

My husband and I bought the wind chimes at a Renaissance Festival in 1979; they’ve held up remarkably well all these years. Still, I decided to restring the pipes before rehanging them; they’re strung with monofilament. I’m glad that I learned to tie knots in Girl Scouts and that my troop leader wouldn’t put up with “granny knots”!

Monofilament is a wonderful product; I use it a lot to hang things. It’s inexpensive, strong and nearly invisible.