Sweet Woodruff to the Rescue

Every year, I tell myself I will slow down in gardening.  But one cannot help it because the birds need feeding.  Aside from that, there is a menagerie of animals that come and go in our backyard. 

When I started gardening in this complex, the owner does not want to invest any money on the surrounding area.  Looking down from the balcony for the longest time is a sorry sight.  One day, Father Winter came and destroyed the hedging.  Needless to say, the owner must cut down most of the shrubs.  When it was cleared cut, it left an ugly dry arid patch all over the place.  It was worse. 

How do I remedy this?  What would grow on this god forsaken piece of land?  Finally, I told the manager that I will start gardening.  Poppies were the best plant to regenerate the earth.  That’s all I grew, poppies.  After a couple of years, the earthworms came back.  Then I became ambitious.  I planted and I planted and I planted from seedlings to bulbs to shrubs.  It was beautiful. 

Ambition can trigger negative emotions from others I found out. 

There is someone who has light fingers and heavy hands.  Flowers in bloom were being dead headed and broken branches.  It hurts to see plants being desecrated when they took every ounce of their energy to bring joy to the world.  For goodness sake, they are harmless.  

How do I beat this murderous scum of the earth?  Sweet woodruff to the rescue.  I planted them all over the place.  This is one tough plant;  the more it’s dead headed, the vigorous it will grow. 

Okay, murderer, whoever you are, knock yourself out.

Meditation:

The master was known to favor action over withdrawal. But he always insisted on “Enlightened” action. 

The disciples wanted to know what “Enlightened” meant. Did it mean “right-intentioned”? 

“Oh no,” said the Master. “Think how right-intentioned the monkey is when he lifts a fish from the river to save it from the watery grave.” ~ Anthony de Mello, S.J.

MORSEL: The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. ~ Marcel Proust