Weeds

Monty Don calls any plant that isn’t where it should be a weed. Dandelions in the daffodil bed? Weed. Dandelions in the wildflower meadow? Flower. Gardens, like life, are about perspective.

Weeds are inevitable

We can move our weeds, cut them down and hope to starve them of sunlight and growth, or cut deep and take out the roots, though we risk doing damage to the plants around them for the greater long-term good. Or we can let them entangle other plants and take over the garden plan we had worked so hard to achieve.

There will always be weeds. Every garden, no matter how perfect, no matter how well-tended, will be an eternal battle against the unwanted grower in plants, and in life. And in both, it is better to clear a small patch well than to haphazardly pull things out. Weeds require focus of their own, as much as planting new flowers, planning new beds, or fertilizing what is already there.

In life, our plans need that same tending, that same nurturing but an equally important task is to weed the garden of life. Edit out the things you don’t want. Take the time to pay attention to what could strangle your future plans, what might get in the way of your growth. Weeds won’t stop cropping up, but if you tend them, the visitors to your garden don’t tend to notice. That privilege stays with the gardener. 😊