Monday, January 28, 2013

Pruning

Reflections on Pruning



well-pruned mulberry

Pruning 
can be a pleasing activity:
removing the dead stems, 
the leaves that might spread infection, 
cutting the shrub or tree back to its bare essentials, 
anticipating, through the exercise, 
an abundant leafing and flowering in spring.
It is a complex art, since each species or variety 
can react differently to the cut,
and weighty decisions must be taken.
Although I plan to buy an electric hedge trimmer,
since forty lavender bushes, 
numerous shrubs 
and burgeoning hedges
exact much labour,
I am aware that some of that fine pleasure will be lost.


3 comments:

  1. It's endlessly amazing that it all grows back, again and again... The mulberry alone grows so amazingly each year.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely poem (even if of the modern sort); and superb photo.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for that, although is not a poem..unless a poem is in the eyes of the beholder...

    ReplyDelete

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