Taking advantage of another day of clear weather, I spent half a day pruning roses, crape myrtles, and overgrown shrubs. I filled nine barrels with cuttings and added them to our large pile of weeds and cuttings, and I used many of the dormant canes for hardwood cuttings.
We gardeners spend months watering, fertilizing, mulching, spraying, and gently nurturing our roses and other blooming shrubs. We give them the attention and care worthy of the beauty they return to us. Then, in the depths of winter, we cut them down. We take them away with a snap, a clip, and a whack. Little remains but a cluster of stubs.
We ourselves also make resolutions at this time of year about what we are going to do, how we are going to change ourselves, and how we are going to improve. Often, our strategy is similiar to winter pruning: reduce, simplify, cut away the unnecessary, use less, consume less, or stop something. We know that clearing away some old bad habits will improve our chances of living more fully. We understand that giving something away will make us stronger. We know a fresh and productive start depends upon letting go of time used on less important activities and thinking. We take away the old to make way for the new.
Like Janus, we are two faced: creators and destroyers. We nurture livestock, then kill. We sometimes give to the earth, and often take away from the earth. We produce and we consume. We love life and must let go of life. We grow and we cut down.
She gave away
everything today --
leaving for the next world.
Weeding - Quotes for Gardeners
2:25:59 PM 
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