Not having much money has been (as most things are) both a blessing and a curse. The blessing has been that I have learned to find very creative ways of getting the things I want. One of those things has been a beautifully landscaped yard. There are several ways to accomplish this with little to no funding.
One way has been to buy what my kids call “used plants”. I prefer to call them “homeless”. These are actually the end of season dead and dying perennials that stores get rid of for less than a dollar. It’s a crap shoot but most will come back up the next year if planted and cared for this year. Spring is always exciting around here because we have no idea what might pop up.
Another way has been to beg for plants from friends and neighbors. I have even traded my labor for plants (I’ll thin that flower bed out for you if I can have the throw aways). Once or twice I have stopped at a complete stranger’s home to ask for a few plants spilling into the road or driveway. I have even been known to stop on the side of the road or at old abandoned homestead to dig up a few attractive plants. What can I say? I am a scrounger. It’s in my New England blood.
Last year, a kind neighbor gave permission for us to dig up some of his overflowing lilac trees. We carefully dug up a number of seedlings and replanted in a variety of areas. I nurtured them throughout the season although they all looked dead. This spring I realized that most of them were, all but one tiny little seedling still growing at the corner of my house. How excited I was to find that one tree no bigger than a twig and about 12 inches high sprouting a few leaves! I was disappointed that none of the others had made it. But this one had and that made it very special. I pictured it being a full grown tree, filling in the corner spot and covered with blooms. I wondered how long it would be before it was big enough to bloom. I wondered if I would even be here when it did. No matter, I thought, someone will be.
Fast forward a few weeks…I’m mowing the lawn…I turn around the corner of the house…and see lilac blooms!! My little lilac twig had produced…not one…not two…but five lilac blooms! They were tiny like the tree but they were complete and perfect! My twig was giving me blooms! Not only was my special little twig a survivor it was a producer, too! Whoo-hoo!!!
I thought a lot about this as I continued to mow the lawn. Lilac trees were put on the earth to bloom beautifully and smell wonderful. They were not put here to produce fruit or nuts like some other trees. They weren’t put here to compete with other flowers. This little twig was not trying to be a rose or a lily or a gladiola. Despite its history and the fact that all of its siblings had given up and died, it had decided to be a survivor and bloom where it was planted. It didn’t wait until it was bigger or stronger or better off. It wanted to be the best little lilac tree it could be at this time and it is. It is fulfilling the measure of its creation and in so doing bringing joy to those around it.
I was thinking we humans could learn a lot about life and living from this little lilac twig. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
One way has been to buy what my kids call “used plants”. I prefer to call them “homeless”. These are actually the end of season dead and dying perennials that stores get rid of for less than a dollar. It’s a crap shoot but most will come back up the next year if planted and cared for this year. Spring is always exciting around here because we have no idea what might pop up.
Another way has been to beg for plants from friends and neighbors. I have even traded my labor for plants (I’ll thin that flower bed out for you if I can have the throw aways). Once or twice I have stopped at a complete stranger’s home to ask for a few plants spilling into the road or driveway. I have even been known to stop on the side of the road or at old abandoned homestead to dig up a few attractive plants. What can I say? I am a scrounger. It’s in my New England blood.
Last year, a kind neighbor gave permission for us to dig up some of his overflowing lilac trees. We carefully dug up a number of seedlings and replanted in a variety of areas. I nurtured them throughout the season although they all looked dead. This spring I realized that most of them were, all but one tiny little seedling still growing at the corner of my house. How excited I was to find that one tree no bigger than a twig and about 12 inches high sprouting a few leaves! I was disappointed that none of the others had made it. But this one had and that made it very special. I pictured it being a full grown tree, filling in the corner spot and covered with blooms. I wondered how long it would be before it was big enough to bloom. I wondered if I would even be here when it did. No matter, I thought, someone will be.
Fast forward a few weeks…I’m mowing the lawn…I turn around the corner of the house…and see lilac blooms!! My little lilac twig had produced…not one…not two…but five lilac blooms! They were tiny like the tree but they were complete and perfect! My twig was giving me blooms! Not only was my special little twig a survivor it was a producer, too! Whoo-hoo!!!
I thought a lot about this as I continued to mow the lawn. Lilac trees were put on the earth to bloom beautifully and smell wonderful. They were not put here to produce fruit or nuts like some other trees. They weren’t put here to compete with other flowers. This little twig was not trying to be a rose or a lily or a gladiola. Despite its history and the fact that all of its siblings had given up and died, it had decided to be a survivor and bloom where it was planted. It didn’t wait until it was bigger or stronger or better off. It wanted to be the best little lilac tree it could be at this time and it is. It is fulfilling the measure of its creation and in so doing bringing joy to those around it.
I was thinking we humans could learn a lot about life and living from this little lilac twig. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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