Praise for harrowing haircuts
Time for a Pruning
GiaB writing prompt #2–2 time
I’m cutting you way back, baby doll, because as much as I love your lime green succulence I’ve learned you are no respecter of boundaries when in thrall with stretching your limits.
Leggy and woody are no more a good look for Plectranthus tomentosa than for whirling butterflies, red apple apentia, or me.
I needed a pandemic trim, too. Who knew what I’d find beneath my curlicue overgrowth – a bottle cap, a baby agave, shredded ribbons of alyssum? A brain, like the Scarecrow?
And my ends — oh, baby doll, brittle as Dark Ages parchment! Broken by a brush like toothpicks beneath a steamroller’s tires.
Does your haircut hurt, beloved? With each snip, do you cry ouch? You’re as sentient as I am
and, when you’re your best self even more sensitive, as medicinal as your nickname or thyme.
Hard pruning hurts humans. But, for us, too, it’s essential. We blossom better where sap once dripped. We grow upward rather than bully outward – bequeathing others the limelight
peridot droplets of dew, of harmony, peace in our winged wake.
©Jenine Bsharah Baines 2021
Some explanation. Plectranthus tomentosa’s nickname is Vicks Plant. And, yes, it smells like vapo-rub — especially when you water it. Click here to learn more about the health benefits of thyme.
I often call my green-legged friends “baby doll” because my daddy the gardener extraordinaire called me “baby doll” once upon a time. He died when I was 20, but I like to think my father gardens with me…smiling when he hears that term of endearment.
It’s a “vertical time” kind of thing rather than “horizontal.”
Thank you, Victor Sarkin and team at Genius in a Bottle, for a timely prompt — yes, pun intended! — that got me to thinking.
There aren’t many days left but let’s tag Carolyn Riker, Caroline de Braganza, Carolyn Hastings and Caroline Mellor to take part.
Caroline is the feminine version of Charles, a name meaning “strong,” “free woman,” or “song of happiness,” depending on which language root you look at. The name comes from Italian, French and Scottish cultures.
Go for it, ladies!
Meanwhile, thank you, dearest readers, for visiting me in the garden!