Slaying Giants, Part 1

It was an expanse of garden needing to be filled. We were too busy building our house from the foundation up to be worrying about a landscaping plan. Big shrubs would make a nice screen between our neighbors and us, so off I went to bring home... something. "Something" ended up being a pieris japonica, a beauty bush, a burning bush, a snowball bush, a Rose of Sharon, and a red weigelia.

I like to believe I'm not the only gardener that makes these mistakes. Go to the plant store, find something blooming, bring it home and stick it in the ground. No plan, no vision, just space to be filled.

Thirty years have passed, and I have given myself a serious problem. Two, actually. I have fallen in love with conifers and need more space, and these shrubs have grown into huge monster bushes. Who would have dreamed that a beauty bush could block the view from a second story window? How could a small burning bush become a 15-foot torch? And that snowball bush is leaving its white blossoms on the roof of my neighbor's two-story house! These monsters have to be tamed somehow.

I'm starting with the beauty bush, which casts the largest shadow, refuses to bloom, and can no longer support its branches in our Seattle rain. Two years ago I took a chainsaw to it at the four-foot level, believing I could tame it. By this summer it had regained its height. Early on it dwarfed the Rose of Sharon, which struggled to survive by growing out of the ground horizontally in a desperate attempt to find the light. This is a giant that cannot be tamed.

Digging this one out is daunting. Its roots seem to go horizontal and its stem at the base is the size of a tree. And I'm not as young and strong as I once was. But it will go. If I have to dig every day for a week, it will go.

It is done. In the Bible, Goliath went down with one stone, but not all giants are slain that quickly. Some giants demand patience and persistence. And the garden is teaching me again, reminding me that there are giants in our lives that can only be defeated with the same patience and persistence. Addictions fall into that category. Childhood injuries and painful memories. Weight loss. Bad habits. God gives strength when our strength fails. I'm so grateful to the Lover of our Souls that longs to free us from these oppressive giants!

Beauty bush is gone. In its place, a beautiful Pinus parviflora 'Ogon Janome', also known as the Dragon's Eye Pine, will grow tall and its variegated needles will find all the sun they need. Soon I'll tackle the next giant, but for now, Ogon and I will find our song. The music is waiting...