For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiastes 3:1

Okay, it was time….or maybe past time, to grab my pruners, my garden gloves and some trash bags. I dread removing the faded debris from my precious perennials when their season is finished. It seems so final. And this season has been a roller coaster for perennials, actually for my annuals as well. Our last frost in the spring occurred pretty early and, being a lover of bright garden color, I picked up a few long blooming annuals to jump-start the color palette and fill in spaces between perennials. After crawling on my hands and knees to get them into the ground, I stood back to admire my handiwork and was very pleased with the view from our street.

It seemed, however, that the critters in our neighborhood had a different take on my additions. What had been healthy, vibrant hibiscus and lantanas covered in beautiful blooms when I went to bed looked like a desert wasteland the next morning. An ever-growing family of bunnies had nipped off every single bloom and some of the leaves. And to add insult to injury, the squirrels had turned all that disturbed ground and new topsoil into something that resembled a war zone. The only things remaining were a few spindly stems that bore irregular leaves. I replanted them in pots, hoping that would place them out of bunny reach and it did, but the squirrels continued to dig until I placed rocks on the soil and sprinkled in a liberal amount of cayenne pepper. Finally, they became less aggressive in their digging. Those particular lantana never reached their potential but the hibiscus are still bringing smiles to my face with their huge red flowers, and it’s almost November.

The growing season has been a roller coaster, too much rain then not enough and our recent drought has brought many of the perennials to their knees. Most of them have a nature-prescribed season to grow vigorously and create beautiful blooms that mature into seeds, and then many die back until the next season. A few, however, stay with me for the summer if I coddle them a bit and deadhead their blooms regularly to keep them from going to seed. But all the water that I gave them this year couldn’t make up for the lack of late-season rain. It was time to remove the mess left behind and take down a few that were trying to keep going but just requiring too much hand watering to be considered reasonable. I had to let them go for their ultimate health as well as that of my water bill. Forcing them to go on when they were well past their normal growing season could result in weaker plants for next year.

Pruning and removing dead wood is an extremely important aspect of gardening. Halfway through the summer, I give my impatiens a major haircut. They look pretty rough for a couple of weeks but they come back much stronger and last until the frost finally claims them. We are nearing November and my pots are providing good color.

Timing is also very important to the pruning process. Many perennials bloom on old wood and need to be pruned immediately after they bloom to ensure new growth that will then become the old wood for the following spring.  Sometimes we prune to remove a diseased portion of the plant or tree and sometimes when two branches rub together causing raw, open wounds on both of them. Whenever pruning occurs and for whatever reason, if done properly, it assures that the plant will be healthier and provide many years of beauty in the garden.

I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. John 15:1-2

And how, I ask, could all this pruning of trees and plants be any different from the pruning in our lives? Does God not work daily to remove the bad things from our lives, to strengthen us by challenging who we are in Him?

The Lord corrects those he loves, just as a father corrects a child in whom he delights. Proverbs 3:12