Old Wood and Patience

An ancient Chinese proverb says "If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people."

Lilac flowers on old wood. A new lilac, or a pruned lilac often produces few or no flowers for many years. Growing lilacs takes a patient gardener.

It also has been said that you plant a grapevine for your children, and an olive tree for your grandchildren. Interestingly, the lilac is in the olive family (oleaceae).

Our lilac was transplanted from starts given to us about twenty years ago by an old friend, Leo, and his sister, Helena. The seedling was probably about four to six years old, and it has grown another twenty since then. Some things just take time to cultivate. Lilacs are one of those things.

While most flowering plants and bushes flower more profusely when pruned, the lilac does quite the opposite, blooming more profusely when left alone to grow naturally. Pruning generates more wood and green, but a lilac left alone for a few decades will reward the gardener with a spectacular show of color and scent.

Lilacs are another old world plant, brought by immigrants, and typically planted by their front door. Lilacs were cultivated by both Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

In lore and literature, the lilac symbolizes love. Interesting metaphor for the lilac -- if lilac does represent love, the metaphor is that sometimes it just takes time for love to bloom. The concept of restraint and patience would be important. By not forcing the love by pruning and cutting, the fullness and beauty of the bloom emerges, and love happens naturally.

We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised. Hebrews 6:12