Musings from Mother Jenny 06.14.2024

A Lesson from our Garden

 

As a novice gardener, it has taken me several years to more fully understand how to best care for perennials. Take for example the large Bigleaf hydrangea at the back of our yard.

Even though the toughness of this shrub is high and the maintenance of it is low, in my exuberance to care for it, I somehow managed to almost kill it. The problem was my lack of experience in pruning.

 

Watching a “how to prune” video provided helpful guidance and I thought I was doing the right thing after it flowered to cut out the dead branches and clip the others close to the ground. However, the following spring, much to my surprise and horror, the Bigleaf hydrangea had only leaves. Guilt and disappointment rose to the surface while confidence in my gardening ability plummeted.

 

Eagerly awaiting to see blooms the next spring, I was again disappointed. The third spring, same scenario, green leaves but no blooms. And so, imagine my absolute delight in early May of this year to see the smallest of buds beginning to form on this Bigleaf hydrangea. Blossoming has been slow yet steady this spring. Each week there is more color, more vibrancy, more life, more beauty.

 

From the Bigleaf hydrangea I now know to be intentional in my pruning. I have learned the value of waiting to see what will happen rather than anticipating the worse. And I have learned that vibrancy, life and beauty can return after a period of dormancy. What might appear to us to be stagnation and inactivity could just be that in God’s good time something is going to happen that will amaze and delight us. May it be so for Grace Church!

 

Blessings,

Mother Jenny+