Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Dividing Lilies

Every spring and summer I watch my beautiful perennial garden as it comes to life. It's full of irises, all kinds of lilies, daffodils, peonies, hydrangeas, butterfly bushes and hostas just to name a few. Many I don't know the names of. It's a beautiful sight to see. As one group of flowers starts to die down, a new one is coming alive. But do you know what happens to a perennial garden when you don't take care of it? It becomes a chaotic mess of overgrown flowers and leaves everywhere.

Now at first I thought it looked lush and full -- the more the better I thought as my garden expanded year after year. But then I began to see that more wasn't better. That the more flowers there were, the messier and sicklier they all became. That's when I learned how to divide bulbs http://www.daytonnursery.com/tips/Dividing%20Iris.htm. It is a scary thing to do if you've never done it before -- digging up the bulb or rhizome, in the case of an iris, and cutting or tearing it into pieces. It seems counterintuitive, right? Well, I thought about this concept -- dividing the bulbs -- thinning out the chaos to make things cleaner, simpler, healthier, and ultimately better in my garden. And I thought, hmmmm, I think I could apply this to my life. It's pretty hectic, chaotic and, one might say, unhealthy sometimes. Maybe I need to "divide my lilies". So, that is what this blog is about. Me sorting it all out, putting it back in order, and hopefully finding my perfect garden at the end. Ewwhh. That's so cheesy! How about, I just want to have a more organized, less stressful life. I think that would make me and everyone around me happier indeed!!

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