• Wonders

    To the Delicate and Strong

    The most delicate and beautiful of spring flowers are the first to show up after months and months of bitter cold and wind. In time they fight and sprout up through the dark, cold earth even through remaining ice and snow. And then guess what? They bloom. Perhaps more beautiful than the flowers that come mid-summer in the warmth and sunshine are those that flourish despite the bitter cold, in the bitter cold. They shout to the world that spring is here though the world cannot quite feel it yet. Delicate and seeming like they shouldn’t have come forth at all, through the most unlikely circumstances there they are radiating…

  • Wonders

    Pruning Makes Me Cringe

    Pruning makes me cringe. Why would you cut back something growing so wild and free?! When we were living in Asia there was always someone on the streets or on the campus pruning away – cutting back limbs, shaping bushes, etc. The place was immaculate in terms of gardens (not always in other terms.Ha!). It would frustrate me sometimes. In the fall gardeners would literally shake the trees until all the pretty oranges, reds and yellows fell and then they SWEPT THEM UP and took them away. . . “Wait, wait! Come back with my fall! (cry face)” Pruning makes me cringe and those gardeners took it too far –…