Wind

and resilience

Hi

It’s Monday again and the circle that is the week starts over again. I am in that sweet spot of time, that gap between things that need doing and things have been done. A moment to cherish. The dogs are scattered around the house in various forms of mid afternoon sleepiness. Big dog is upside down on the couch beside me. Pup on the floor like a rug. Eos is on a bed somewhere. It is quiet aside from the washing machine. A gentle warming sunlight is drifting through the window. I think I should be outside doing something in the garden but instead I just sit and think how we are entering the time of year when sunshine is treasured. The wind and rain over the weekend was reminder that winter is coming.

Over the weekend I was reminded of resilience. Walking up the path on Saturday morning I was scanning the garden for damage from the wind that blew the day before. Prior to the wind we had a few charming days of warmth and I was seduced by the comfort it all. Moments were spent watching bees amongst the flowers and holding tight to the knowledge that simple good things do still exist in a world that feels increasingly more fraught. So yeah I wasn’t expecting a wind. Friday saw the garden swirl like the sea and the dahlias who are normally nodding delicately were bashed about. I’ve spent some time tidying them up with the hopes they return to their former vigor. I am not ready to see them go just yet.

As I stroll I see out the corner of my eye, a sunflower that I had no memory of planting. Then I remember seedlings in the spring and some maybe falling out the window. I guess this one become submerged in the mass of weedy greens below. I was more then surprised and delighted to see that since their topple a lovely bloom was shinning. Across the path from the sunflower I noticed another delight, a small single bloom dahlia, another seedling that had stubbornly grown despite neglect. It was almost a mirror match to it’s sunflower sister across the way. After a few days of grime weather it was a much cherished sight and a reminder of how things can grow no matter what.

I can not know what, aside from the obvious nurturing, makes a seedling become a plant. You can with all the best intentions in the world manage a plant and it for no reason will simply not make it. My garden is very much made up of many such events and equally it is made up of things that have made it, often to my surprise. It makes me think how the resilient plants are and how this has influenced the design of my garden - it is very much a layered creation of survival. I plant with perhaps colour or shape in mind and every season it evolves into something else. A demonstration of beautiful resilience no matter what the weather. I like the idea of beautiful resilience no matter and might apply it more to daily life.

Have a wonderful Easter

with much love

Mel