Have you ever had one of those moments when one written or spoken phrase immediately brings you back to another time or place? Or a smell brings back in an instant a memory so clear you feel like it just happened? I read a phrase today that did that for me.
“It is said that in some countries trees will grow, but will bear no fruit because there is no winter there”. -John Bunyan
A few years ago I read an article about pruning flowering bushes, like roses. It was a great article about how it is sometimes intimidating to take what looks like a large, healthy, leafy, green plant and whittle it back to almost nothing. But it's an essential job in the garden. Pruning allows regrowth, bigger blooms and a longer life for a healthier plant.
When I first moved into my house 10 years ago, we had four neglected rose bushes around the house. I had never gardened rose bushes before and I was looking forward to smelling that beautiful fragrance and having roses to snip off and float in a dish. But those bushes hadn't been pruned in years. They were wild, overgrown and their prickly stems would grab anything or anyone within reach. There were no blooms that first summer, just lots of green leaves and thorns.
So in the fall I cut them down to almost nothing. Just four clumps of barbed three inch stalks remained. I covered them up with grass clippings and hoped for the best.
Three plants came back to greet me in the spring and by summer I had an abundance of white tea roses and a smattering of larger roses that were rich, deep, red.
When I read the John Bunyan quote today, I instantly remembered that pruning article and the rose bushes. I remembered how I felt guilty cutting back bushes that were healthy, simply because I wasn't getting flowers. It was upsetting to think my actions of slashing back the stems might kill them for good when just a season before they had free reign of my yard. That quote also reminded me of the relief I felt when I could see the benefit of cutting back and eliminating unnecessary growth. I had roses!
I took that lesson to heart and shared it with my church community later that month. We all enjoyed the obvious analogy. Getting rid of overgrown, thorny branches can lead to new growth and an abundance of blooms. How nice it can be to cut back sometimes!
It has never gotten easier for me to cut things back that seem to be flourishing. It's even harder to recognize the lack of fruit or blooms when I'm knee-deep in proverbial foliage. I don't' like seeing a stump where there used to be a plant. I also don't enjoy an extremely unsympathetic winter. But winter is a necessity. Winter allows the trees to hibernate and rest then restart its productive cycle all over again and bear fruit.....naturally....but not easily.
This has been an unkind winter for many of us. I know quite a few people that have had some difficult times lately, including my own family. I'm choosing to think of the last year or so as our harsh winter. The last twelve months have included pruning some bad feelings, cutting back unneeded things and eliminating negative thoughts. Some of it has been incredibly difficult. I have not enjoyed the process of seeing the stump where growth once was. But cutting back was a choice I made and I'm happy to report that sticking to it is finally paying off. I am starting to see the fruit!
Here is the most important thing this quote is reminding me of, is; pruning is a choice. We choose it, and in some cases it's chosen for us (think of someone being laid off or losing a loved one). However, it's important to realize that we need it to regrow and prosper. A harsh winter can be used to our own benefit to be a fruit bearing tree...or a sympathetic neighbor...or a compassionate parent....or... (prune...and fill in the blank).
Enjoy the roses!!!
Originally published 2010
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