Transformation

I am an avid gardener and find working in the soil to be both a form of meditation and a source of energy for me. When I moved into my town home 18 years ago, I left beautiful gardens I loved. My town home had no gardens; rather rocks and shrubs surrounded it. That same landscaping was repeated in the fenced in patio area, however, five small evergreens and a beautiful, mature crab tree added interest to an otherwise uninteresting landscape. I loved those trees. As they grew they provided privacy and were a wonderful haven for birds. That is until about eight years ago when our homeowner’s association elected a new president.

Suffice it to say that he was unhappy that trees were planted inside my fence. The first of many letters began arriving telling me that the evergreens had to be cut down. I was given no recourse. My sense of outrage and grief for being forced to remove beautiful, healthy trees was huge! It was essential to me that they be removed with respect and intention. I talked to each tree, telling it what had to happen. I thanked each for the beauty it provided. Then, one November day, dear friends came to chop them down. Each took a tree home to decorate as their Christmas tree for that year. Seeing those trees transformed with beautiful decorations and bright lights definitely eased my sense of loss.

Several years later, my lovely crab tree came under attack. “The tree has to go” came the ultimatum in a letter from the association. If I did not take it upon myself to have it cut down, they would have it done and send me the bill. Nice, huh!

Reluctantly and with great remorse, I had it cut down to just below the fence level, thinking that would suffice. After all, some of the “reasons” they gave for the necessity for removal was that it was touching a wall of the town home and thus causing damage (none was noted) and it shed flowers on the neighbor’s patio. You may think you need to re-read this last sentence to really understand. Trust me, there is no rationality there! So, if I followed their reasoning, cutting it down to a stump would solve the issues. The tree stump would be covered with vines and continue to serve as a lovely focal point on my patio. By the way, the corner under attack happens to be the Partnership area of the patio. But it was discovered that the stump existed…we won’t address how they might have found out; suffice it to say, privacy does not appear to be a value of this association president! Thus came another letter saying that the “tree” must be removed to the ground.

A beautifully blossoming tree that once held bird feeders and a lovely wind chime was removed with no evidence that it ever existed. The void was painful to look at. How could I transform that area so that I could look at it again with delight? I was in a funk for about six months. That is until I was at the home of a friend who is also an avid gardener. Lo and behold, in one of her gardens stood a little tree shaped metal sculpture. It was just what I wanted! Luckily, the garden store where she had purchased it had another one. I immediately went to get it. A vision was forming. I would create a rock garden around the metal sculpture and cover the sculpture with little fairie houses. A local artist makes the most delightful fairie houses on stakes for the garden and I already had several. He had started making miniature fairie houses for hanging. They would be perfect! The Partnership area had suffered a severe blow, but has now been transformed with love and intention.