New Growth

About six weeks ago many of the plants in my yard and containers were all looking pretty dismal, they had stems that were lanky and bare, foliage that was brown and crispy and no flowers.  I decided to prune them, figured I had nothing to lose, they already looked pretty dead.  I was quite aggressive with my pruning, by the time I was done, some plants only had a little bits of green showing and roots, I was sure I had killed a couple of them, but like I said they had already looked dead before I started. All I could do now was to wait and see what would happen.

The results have been encouraging The Clementius which I had cut down to the ground is blooming  again, with new vigor...I knew it would come back next spring but was surprised it came back this fall

                                           The geraniums, sending out new blooms

                            These petunias had just little green stems showing after I pruned them

                                                                   More blooms

These plants had to be pruned to get new growth, the old dead stuff had to be cut away for the flowers to return. I thought about what God, the master gardener does in our own lives, pruning the dead stuff away so new growth can occur. I think we are all in some phase of the pruning process. Sometimes we are being pruned, sometimes we are in the recovery growth phase, sometimes in the blooming stage. Gardeners know this is a continuous cycle, the garden always changing always needing some pruning Where in the pruning process are you?

I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit,  he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful  John 1:1-2