Yvonne de Villiers

I spent the 40th anniversary of Woodstock literally getting back to my garden which has been sadly neglected.

My garden was planted with a lush and unruly look in mind because:
a. I don’t have much free time to tend it
b-z. Unruly is one of my favorite words (up there with incendiary and incandescent)

But…at times it becomes necessary to give it some attention and I struggle with the questions it poses. What gets cut or pulled and what is allowed to continue doing what it does? My garden is tiny. Against all reason, I planted a species of bamboo (Bambusa Oldhamii) which becomes immense and I have derived much vicarious pleasure watching it grow over the past 5 years. So far, I have not had the heart to nip any of the new growth in the bud, although at this point it may require a chain saw to do so. This years growth is 4″ in diameter. It stands just outside my bedroom and I can imagine it coming up right through the floorboards. This thought is both mildly alarming and tremendously appealing to me as I would love to sleep and wake up amidst a stand of bamboo. It feels as though a powerful, wild and untamed spirit is living in my garden. I look up and imagine being held aloft by its strong and pliant branches, like the actors in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.

I had tried getting into a bonsai frame of mind with the safe, predictable and tame “lucky bamboo” before I planted the real thing, but it just didn’t work for me.

“My spirit has suddenly remembered itself
like a bonsai remembering the forest.
Its keeper comes home to find it grown straight and tall
Roots through the floorboards into moist, black earth.
Branches through the ceiling into moonless sky.
With fireflies flickering all around it.”

Peace, Yvonne www.lunaguitars.com