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A short reflection today as I sit in the shade at the edge of the garden watching the butterflies and hummingbirds. I’m resting, and I’m thinking about the tug of war between the value of productivity and natural rhythms that include times of rest.
It’s mid-August, and for a few weeks now I’ve had to make decisions in the garden involving what I am asking of my plants.
If you have grown flowers at all, you will know that many plants will push out new flowers if you cut off the spent ones before they set seed. We even have a whole group of zinnias called “Cut and Come Again”; the more flowers you cut off, the more they will produce.
The natural rhythm of a plant is to emerge in spring, put on new growth, send up bloom stalks, bud, flower, fade, set seed, and die back until next spring. Its whole purpose is to produce seed to carry on the species. The whole sequence of events feels familiar, and right somehow. It’s the normal course of events seen over and over in just about all living things.
However, I, as a human land steward, can come along and prune off the fading flowers and wait a few weeks for new flowers to arrive. To complicate this, I have to consider the goldfinches who rely on the seed of the coneflowers.
Do I push the coneflowers to produce more to feed my need for beautiful flowers in the garden well into September and to feed the goldfinches, or do I let them play out their natural rhythms?
Coneflowers are not the only ones either. Coreopsis, salvia, catmint, and a host of other plants have the potential to produce over and over across the growing season. We do the same thing when we harvest zucchini or cucumbers.
Some years I’ve let my plants flower once and then set seed, completing their seasonal life cycle. Some years I’ve cut back like mad, driven to keep the garden blooming and the birds, bees, and butterflies fed.
I’ve learned, however, that if the plants are young, it’s better to let them go to seed, reserving time before the first killing frost to send their energies to growing strong deep roots. Older established plants seem to be able to produce flowers again and again with little to no ill effects.
Naturally, I’m pondering what this teaches us about our own lives. How often and for how long can we or should we continue to produce before we allow ourselves to rest?
I think, like coneflowers and coreopsis, we too have the capacity to produce several times over during particular seasons of life. Raising young children, starting your career or business, and caring for aging parents come to mind as seasons that require giving over and over again. Like a continuous stream of flowers blooms over a long period of time that feeds birds, bees, and butterflies, those times, while rigorous, are beautiful.
Yet, like plants, we also need seasons when less is required of us so that we can nurture our roots. The down deep places in us that bind us together, keep us whole and sound also need their time to soak up nourishment without the constant call for output.
Strategies in the garden often become strategies in life. This year I am evaluating whether I need to keep producing or if it isn’t time to embrace a season of less productivity. Maybe it’s time to embrace a more natural rhythm and go to seed instead of powering through and producing more.
Where are you in life’s seasons? Tell me in the comments.
Enjoy every moment of the year. Each month is a gift, each season of life filled with goodness beyond measure.
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Dearest Hedge Mystic, thank you for this observed reflection. Following the natural rhythm invites us to rest. Yes, rest. As daylight shortens the stealth of darkness invites one to move ever inward. Mother Earth has gifted us with many signals that are opportunities to grasp that precious moment of rest. Soon the trees will exhibit their brilliant hurrah before their winter respite. Woodland creatures and critters will soon begin their seasonal forage. The bees are feverishly working to shore up their hives. Everything around us is readying for rest. Yes, there is an invitation to rest.
My Coneflowers have already bloomed and seeded out for one last time. This week I will tidy up my garden to make room for the autumn blooming plants to provide for nature. Texas summers aren’t very forgiving and while other gardeners are continuing to enjoy blooms in their gardens I am cutting back those that won’t bloom again until spring. My garden teaches me how to go with the ebb and flow of the seasons. I’m looking forward to autumn’s transition into winter. It’s been a difficult year with yet another flood, being back to back with last summer’s devastating flood of the Guadalupe River, impacting my little community with inevitable loss. Summer is always my least favorite of the seasons. It’s either flood or drought here. Like the coneflowers I need this time of rest.