You know when you buy a bush from the garden shop and it looks nice and full? And then something happens – winter damage, deer eat it, or whatever? And suddenly it doesn’t look so great? In fact it looks scraggly, and you wonder how to bring it back to its lush, full state?
You read in my post about clearing out the vines that they were wrapped around the bushes. I even showed you a picture where you couldn’t even see the bush underneath the mess.
(c) Kathleen Thompson
And you saw that I had cleaned out all the vines on the right side of the garden. So now that same bush looks like this.
It's looked better. At least it's alive.
Pretty scrawny, right? Spaces between the branches. Several branches had to be cut out because they were dead. It’s shaped funny too. And leaning to the left in the picture, which is toward the front of the garden. I think the vines were pulling it in that direction.
How do you get a bush to grow back? And how long does it take? I mean after all, I’ve been cleaning this garden out thinking it would look better – not worse. And even though I know it’s better because that side of the garden isn’t filled with weeds, it doesn’t look that great. In fact, it looks rather sick.
- Create the environment for growth.
Be sure to eliminate the weed roots near the plant so they don’t just grow right back and choke the bush again. Clip the overhead tree branches to provide enough light. Loosen the soil so it absorbs more water. Make sure there’s high quality soil with nutrients for the plan.
What can you do to create the environment for growth in your life? Light in the form of leaning, an open mind and heart, input from trusted advisers come to mind.
- Regular maintenance.
If I don’t go back out there for another 3 years, it will look exactly the same as it did before I started working on it. I need to look regularly at what’s going on. Look for the emergence of new weeds and get rid of them before they take over again.
It’s always easier to maintain something in good shape than it is to do the hard work of recovery. Yet, we often don’t have to make the time to get it done. The urgent gets done first. Once we get on that treadmill of operating out of what’s urgent, it’s almost impossible to get off.
And you know? If it’s too long between visits out to the garden, or whatever needs maintenance in your life, we just start again. Right where we are. It’s not the end of the world. It’ll just likely cost more in time or money to get it back into shape.
- Give it time.
Sigh. Can’t it be done yesterday? How long will this take? That’s almost always my question – when will this be done? And I want it sooner rather than later.
After all, Amazon can deliver in one or two days now. Can’t I just click my heels – or fingers – and have it on demand? Better yet, why not have a color printer just spit out some new branches for the bush where they attach themselves?
Right.
Just like great relationships don’t happen overnight, and great wine isn’t sold as soon as it’s put into the bottle, regrowth takes time. Effort too. I’ll probably have to shape this bush and keep trimming it to encourage growth in the middle.
I don’t know how long it will take to recover, or if it will ever look as full as when I brought it home from the garden center. I do hope it will bloom and at least look less scarred than it does now. I hope that, like with us, its scars will fade and only be noticeable to the most discerning eye. That it will shine as a thing of beauty for years to come, now that it’s been freed from its vine prison.
I wish that for you too. As you remove the vines entwined in your life, may you give yourself time to recover. Keep pruning to encourage healthy growth. Let your scars make you stronger and more beautiful. And give yourself time.
If you’d like to share your story, please leave a comment.
