Our Country's Cactus

Our Country’s Cactus

Tucked away on the side of my house are some small cactus plants. They are normally fairly unobtrusive but when they put out their flowers, they are hard to ignore. The buds are big and the flowers are exuberant. I look forward to seeing them each summer.

There are things to consider, however. A cactus plant has spines.  Spines can be stiff, hard,  or soft. They may be long or short. The spines on my cactus are so thin they can be ignored when I weed around the flowers. But they can’t be ignored for long. They push in under the skin and are uncomfortable reminders of not being careful in the garden. They cause sharp hints of pain until they are removed.

This duality of beauty and pain is a reminder to me of what is going on nowadays. Underneath the beauty of our country lie the spines that effect so many of us. The pain caused by conquering, slavery, exclusion, and racism that has resurfaced in recent times all over America has been in us from the beginning but we haven’t been addressing the causes – until now.

I hope that we are finally becoming able to appreciate our incredible diversity, to value the beauty that all people bring and to take out the spines that discrimination has implanted in our country’s body. Only then will we be able to truly appreciate our amazing American garden.

My cactus – the Eastern Prickly Pear:

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/plant-of-the-week/opuntia_humifusa.shtml

Tiger, Tiger

Tiger, Tiger

I like cats, even those strays that find themselves in my backyard. I shoo them away just to protect the birds on my feeders but I know they only leave if they choose to; they own whatever territory they are in.

Recently, I had the opportunity to expand my sense of backyard to Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve in India. There was no guarantee that we would see any tigers as we drove around the national park but we were lucky and saw two, a male and a female, in different parts of the Reserve. Those cats were magnificent. There was no doubt about who owned this territory.  I was in awe as I sat in the open Jeep watching them stroll from the brush, unhurried and tolerant of the gawkers snapping their photos.

It is hard to describe the impact of seeing a tiger in the wild. The animal is big, a housecat on unbelievable steroids. It has authority; the sheer bulk of its muscular body demands attention and caution. In this natural setting, its presence is both stunning and formidable. I felt privileged to have had the chance to see them unburdened by any cage, free in their own environment. Someone said that in a zoo people are the observers and the tigers are the observed but it is the reverse at Bandhavgarh – we are the observed and the tigers are the observers.

I found it quite a stunning reversal of awareness. It opens up a new perspective of what it means to co-exist in a world that is home to a great diversity of beings. We need to respect, and often to protect, life in its myriad forms. The Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve is doing its part for the tigers.    

Here are facts about and the history of Bandhavgarh National Park and its Tiger Reserve:

http://projecttiger.nic.in/bandhavgarh.htm

Lilac Time

Lilac Time

Years ago we planted a lilac shrub in front of our house. It slowly grew each summer and put out lovely pale purple blossoms. Now it is large, full and bushy, with a scent that envelops us as we open our front door. The bush is thriving and expanding; we will need to prune it back – again – after the flowering season.

We also planted a lilac bush in our backyard. It was a different variety with darker flowers and a more delicate scent. It grew tall and leggy and did not do as well. The trees that were growing up at the same time provided too much shade for this sun-loving plant. So we dug it up and replanted it in a sunnier location. For two years it reluctantly put out leaves, no flowers, and half of it stopped growing at all. It looked so fragile, almost pathetic. This year, much to our surprise, it bloomed with such incredible vigor on one side that we staked it and each day look out in wonder at the rejuvenation of this beauty, in awe of its will to live.

Two bushes, very different personalities, same family (Syringa vulgaris).  One had an optimal growth situation, the other was forced to deal with a challenge. Yet they both found a way to express themselves in relation to their circumstances. And we love them both.

That’s the joy of diversity. There’s something to admire in every expression of life.

Lilacs can enhance any garden:

http://www.aboutlilacs.com/index.shtml

http://www.backyardgarden.info/lilacs.php

http://blog.gardenharvestsupply.com/2010/03/11/growing-lilac-bushes/