Home-Grown
The red geranium's leaf turns in
on itself, rolling up inside the wilt
that blights. I need to minimize
infection, finish with cuttings an end
begun as flowers fade. Already
it's late August. I pinch slips from stem
tips, fixing them a single inch in a mix
of perlite and sphagnum peat moss.
The trick to rooting successfully is
finding the place that nourishes deep,
out of the glare. North or east light
will do; holding back on water, too.
It takes time to get established. More
if you start from seed. In the tending
before the planting you can go so far.
© 2012 Maureen E. Doallas
As fall approaches and I began to prepare to bring my plants in for the winter, this poem is such a beautiful description of the joy, and the process.
ReplyDeleteI love this...
"It takes time to get established. More/if you start from seed. In the tending/
before the planting you can go so far."
Lovely!
Being able to thrive....it looks more modest than it is.
ReplyDeleteThis blessed my gardener's heart. iLove propagation of any sort.
ReplyDeleteIt takes time to get established...it is
ReplyDeletea gentle art of abiding in what has been prepared.
This is just terrific - real/metaphoric, deceptively simple, beautiful cadence. k .
ReplyDeleteAh--this gardener loves the tenderness in here, how much it says.
ReplyDeleteThe trick to rooting successfully is
ReplyDeletefinding the place that nourishes deep,
out of the glare...there is a terrific truth buried in that line...smiles.
wow..this was beautiful..speechless~~
ReplyDeleteYou can only go so far, or you can go too far, I suppose.
ReplyDeleteGreat poem for its teaching. It not only informs, but educates the reader poetically. Nice idea, and write.
ReplyDeleteLove this - description and instruction manual in one!
ReplyDeleteExquisite-- so beautifully crafted and elegant-- I take it all as metaphor. But one can only go so far...xxxj
ReplyDelete