Sunday, October 24, 2004

sundayoctober24,2004


today we unplanted the garden.
we would love to take everything...
from the 33 year old dogwood to the last baby earthworm.

we unearth old abe darby who has been pushing his mighty rose roots down into this soil since 1992. he is surely very pissed as we prune his new autumn colored shoots and buds to fit him in the van. this rose has given us fat fragrant apricot blooms every year till the edge of december. he must think we are ungrateful.
we drag him through the store, his roots stuffed into an ugly black plastic tub. he flails at the debris on both sides and triumphs by nailing my scalp with one long angry thorn.

we load the van with potsful of hosta,hydrangea,cotoneaster,blueberry,columbine,foxglove and hope that those clumps of roots we can't identify are the so special uvularia, hardy orchid and dodocatheon that are not easy to replace.

the garden is dismantled.
it is amazing how something once so extraordinary as a whole loses its magic when broken down into separate parts.

i would like to end on a happier note.
reading this and wondering who will care and understand, i think only a gardener who has lost a garden will get it.

i don't know.



1 comment:

sage spa said...

I watched helplessly as someone pulled every plant out of my large garden (3 years of work), pile up the plants, trellises, and garden paths, and set it on fire. I definitely understand what it is to lose a garden. It's heartbreaking. My sympathies.- David