So you purposed in your heart it is time to change.

It is time to do something. And you are going to do whatever it takes, or so you thought! Now you are wondering…do I really want this that bad? Is it really worth it?

All my friends know about this caterpillar thing. How I killed the prospective butterflies and kept the weeds…so much for transparency. Then, having learned my lesson, I publicly proclaimed that I would no longer care more about the appearance of my front flower bed and would allow the caterpillars to eat to their hearts content knowing all along that the leaves on my bushes would grow back…they did last time…and that I would be the butterfly benefactor.

However, because I killed those nasty pests last time…I did not fully appreciate how bad the front garden would look. They have been eating my bushes for about 6 weeks and they’re huge! Last week I was having a party…a friend suggested I put a sign up front, “Feeding in Progress.” It has been a tremendous joke.

So I am struggling. I mean when are they going to do this cocoon thing anyway? Do I really want to go the distance? Herein lies the power of Weight Watchers, AA and all groups that provide true accountability…it doesn’t matter whether I feel like it or not today…I will persevere. I have shared this story with all sorts of audiences…hundreds of people. It doesn’t matter how messy and unattractive this growth process is…the caterpillars stay…at least until they become butterflies.

<— Weeds #1: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder
<— Weeds #2: The Bugs are Back!

Popularity: 61% [?]

I have always had a thing for plants. There is something therapeutic about the process of working and growing things. A number of years ago I realized that not only do flowers bloom according to seasons, but so do weeds. Right now we have the long and slender stemmed yellow flowered weed. The leaves are somewhat fuzzy like a Gerber daisy and they pull out of the ground fairly easily when you get tired of the disruption to your golf course green. Next comes a similar purple flower with a tall slender stalk.

The leaves are quite different, much narrower, and prolific and stand up higher; but again these pull out fairly easily and make great bouquets for small children wanting to please their mother.

”So what,” you are wondering. I just reach over and pull the weeds out, it isn’t a big deal. However, all weeds are not created equal! After these come another much closer to the ground. They look like small roses, tolerate extreme heat and little rain, thriving even when all the grass has given up. Just try just pulling these out…good luck. Just as there are seasons in the plant world, so there are seasons in my life. As much as I work towards life balance, there are periods of time when there will be an abundance of opportunities.

When we moved into our new house several years ago we chose to clear the back portion of our property ourselves wanting to create a lush Florida friendly yard…our version of Sunken Gardens.

The first year I had mixed results. We had these beautiful lavender flowers on a stalk that somewhat resembled a sunflower. Going for the natural look, I left them excited about the beauty that was already available on my developing sanctuary. However when the black and yellow caterpillars began to strip my “snow on the mountain” down to bare stems, I have to say I wasn’t near as tolerant, spraying them with incredibly toxic substances and celebrating as they dropped off.

The funny thing is that the lavender flowers turned into these horrible stickers. (Have you ever just wanted to throw the clothes away rather than face the tedious chore of trying to get those things off?) And the bugs that I eliminated were the larvae for the butterflies I had wanted to attract. I had gotten so caught up in the ugliness of stripped plants; I had eliminated my opportunities to see the beauty that could have come.

The funny thing about weeds is that what one person might consider a weed, another person might plant. And where some gardeners hate and spray for insects others plant to attract them.   Yet what defines something as prized or rejected is not necessarily the thing itself, but the viewer.

Weeds #2: The Bugs Are Back! —>

Popularity: 47% [?]