|
When I was 5, my parents had a young magnolia tree
in the front yard that they had planted and were about as proud of as they
were of me. I noticed my dad often pulled leaves from it as a sapling (probably
removing the dead or burnt ones), and one day, I thought I'd surprise him
by helping him.
I got a pair of my scissors and went out into the
yard, cutting off every leaf I could reach. It was pretty naked up to about
5-year-old stretching height. When he got home and saw the tree, his reaction
wasn't at all what I'd hoped for. When he bellowed, "Who did this?" I suggested
that the neighborhood "bad boys" had probably done it. Their parents were
called and we were told the boys were punished for the damage to our tree,
I assumed along with whatever else they had managed to actually accomplish
that day.
Years later, I confessed to my parents about my misguided
gardening attempt. The magnolia is still living and is a magnificent, huge
tree more than 40 years later. I still think about it when I'm pruning
my own plants.....
-- Jessica Morton,
Mendocino
|
