Daylilies

The white lilies in full bloom

Aren't these incredible? They're huge, pristinely white, and last for such a long time.

Weeds

Gardening is great for analogies, and as a mother of nine children, every time I'm out weeding my gardens, I can't help but think of the work that I do every day as a mother.

Sometimes the weeds I pull up are just little things that I grab as I'm walking by. These are kind of putsy to pick at, but they come up easily - the whole root and everything in one little tug. Some of parenting is like that. "Oh, no, Evania, scissors are for PAPER, not hair." Once, done. I don't expect I'll have to repeat that one again for her.

But sometimes it's a much bigger job, and MAN is it crazy how quickly some of those things can grown! And once that root is down in there, you can pull all you want, but unless you go after it with a shovel, you don't stand a chance - it will be back just as strong next year (or later this same summer!) And even if you DO go after the big ones with a shovel, the odds of you getting the entire root are not very good. It will be back. And you've got to keep watching, and when you see it sticking its ugly head back out of the ground, you've got to go back after it again and again and again until it finally dies.

Burdock is one of my top five hated weeds, right up there with creeping charlie, thistle, and the beautiful purple wild flower that takes over and chokes out other plants and refuses to die. And that leaves one more slot in the top five open...I guess I'm undecided what should be in that spot! There are a number of contenders depending on the season...

And some just never seem to die.

Just as I have a tendency to fall back into the same patterns of sin again and again, I see it ever so clearly in my children. The weeds that don't get pulled out right away have roots so deep that no shovel of mine is ever going to pull it out. Oh, on those nights, how I pray for the Roundup of the power of God to pour down on those weeds and watch them wither away, because some of the "weeds" growing in those little hearts have roots that are no match for even the most skilled human gardener!

What I've found is the best thing to do at that point is just to simply keep at it. Pulling *part* of the plant weakens the plant, which slowly, ever so slowly, weakens the root. Pulling up the immature plants prevents the disaster of a weed going to seed. That burdock up above might come back (though I think I got enough of that one we might be okay for at least a few years!), but it's not coming back as anything other than itself! No baby burdock surrounding it this time!

But in the meantime, the work of the weeds also has the potential to be a great connector of me and my children. Especially among the younger set, and often even Leah, too, I have eager helpers, and pretty dependable, too, I must say.

Rinnah and Evania are here helping me pull out an edible weed from the vegetable garden. It's a win-win - they have something to bring to the front yard for their game, and I lose the weeds! Reuben has learned to distinguish this yellow-flowered clover, and will very deliberately pull up just those. It's great for me - he makes slow, but real progress, and it keeps him  happily engaged near me in an activity that it outside!

These precious summer days spent outside together are irreplaceable.

And a few days later...

 Do you see it? In the midst of the growing jungle that used to be a vegetable garden (and doesn't the ancient rusting wheelbarrow that used to belong to Matt's grandma and the old shed that Matt's dad designed and built when he was in high school just add to the whole scene??) there is one big exhuberant burst of color.

Sure enough - that volunteer "salad green" turned out to be a beautiful explosion of color.

And...white lilies!

Didn't have to wait for long! This morning the first two were blooming, and by evening, more were opening up. What a pinnacle of each summer when these stunning beauties do their thing.

Anticipation

 'Tis the season when my anticipation begins to build as the gigantic white lilies...

 ...and the silly old wild allium that seed themselves like weeds, and are generally a nuisance...except when they're blooming...

 ...and the majestic and impossible-to-transplant, so they shall live here and only here forever globe thistles...

...are all just on the cusp of bursting into bloom in the cottonwood garden at the top of the driveway! I can hardly contain my excitement!

Surprise!

I found a volunteer in my vegetable garden today. Last week I'd seen it and thought it was some odd sort of salad green that had come up from last year's that went to seed, but turns out it's not.

I do believe in a day or two I will have a lovely poppy amongst the weeds that are taking up residence this year in the vegetable garden!