I wish I had a green thumb. I love to see vegetation thrive and grow, but a horticulturist I am not. I don't like digging in dirt and I really, really don't like insects. But when you have a house, unless you pave the surrounding area, sooner or later you have to deal with the garden.
Lavender was a reasonable choice, I thought, for a low-maintenance garden. At least, that's what the BBC gardening gurus have said repeatedly, and so I had it planted all around the house. Such a lovely fragrance! What I did not know was that in this climate those little, bitty plants grow into huge bushes that quite literally take over the environment, to the point of threatening the neighbors.
I guess I should have been pruning them. Pruning is something I simply hate to do – it seems so cruel. So I apologize to the plants before I snip them which, of course, makes me feel like a complete idiot. When I was a child I was thrilled to have successfully sprouted two pussy willow sprigs which I planted in the backyard. Then I wouldn't let anybody prune them so instead of nice, manageable bushes they grew into great big trees. My father would look at them and shake his head as if to say "Why did I listen to that child?"
So I'm going to have to face up it and cut the lavender way back. I'm dreading it. On the plus side, maybe I can use the cut bits to make lavender essence. How hard can that be?
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