Pruning

I crossed three things off my list yesterday; the weeding of the tomato patch, planting the tomatoes and lastly pruning the hibiscus. Which led me to today. I had already told two people they could help themselves to my prunings but decided to place a notice on the community Facebook page for anyone else who might be interested in grabbing some cuttings. I had seven people altogether who came to take some of these and still two bucketfuls left for anyone who may come later. It is nice to see these potentially being used rather than rotting in the compost heap. I was also able to give away some rose cuttings that I planted two months ago after answering an add for someone pruning her roses, the good old-fashioned ones that still hold that incredible smell. I thought I would be happy if I could get just one to germinate – instead every one of these has burst into leaf, leaving far too many for me alone.

Gardening is like this. While I haven’t propagated any hibiscus myself, I know that many people do so hopefully these people who came today will one day have the satisfaction of the beautiful flowers, as I do. The ones I gave away were the robust kind, the ones that can tolerate the fierce winds, sandy soil and drought-like summers. I still have hibiscus that have hardly grown in the eight years I have been here, yet still manage to produce beautiful flowers every season. I didn’t take too much off these. I want them to grow.

I love my flowers and I love the colours. That is why hibiscus was my main choice when I first moved here. I found out later that it would have been better to have planted a shelter around the outside of the section with fast-growing plants and put the hibiscus within this belt. That way, they would have been protected from the winds at least. Now, so much of the garden has grown, that the plants that I originally grew are providing that same shelter. It was just a longer process. But as I mentioned, some of the hibiscus have barely grown and may never do so. It is remarkable how these plants can still produce such a beautiful flower – one of the many gifts of nature. I have a similar cactus. It is the scrawniest of plants yet its flowers are spectacular. It is a good reminder not to judge things or people by their initial appearances. Like these forlorn plants, they may have a beautiful flower within, that will one day show itself to the world.

Nature is a brilliant teacher.