Let that be a lesson to you

If you ever consider planting bamboo. It's been three years now since we had our bamboo forest ripped out.

Remember that sad sight?  The plants are long gone, but the buried roots still have enough energy to send up clumps here and there across the lawn. Left on their own, these little leaves will eventually grow into giant plants again. The bamboo expert told me to cut off the new shoots when they appear, which will eventually starve out the root.  At least, that's the idea.

After three summers of that, enough is enough, so I've started digging out sections where they are really persistent.  This is hard work, because the roots are now dry and hard as cement. For all practical purposes, dead.  While you're hacking away, you can admire a plant with that kind of stored energy.   

The species of bamboo that we know today evolved from prehistoric grasses about 4o million years ago.  So bamboo has been on earth about 40 times longer than the human species. And will no doubt still be here when we're long gone. Probably some that I once planted.

June 13th is National Weed Your Garden Day. A weed is any unwanted plant in your garden.  Sometimes, even planted intentionally.  I'm listening to the pleasant sound of free water falling on the garden this morning.  The birds are ecstatic. A good day for weeding because wet soil makes it easy-- relatively speaking.