To my surprise it has survived each winter at the bottom of my little pond and come back bigger and better.
Until this year.
This year has been different.
(Of course, what hasn't been different this year?)
The leaves are small.
They don't last long and they yellow quickly.
It has not bloomed once and barely shades the pond.
I couldn't figure it out.
But then today I had an idea: perhaps it was rootbound.
It was not just rootbound.
It was packed more tightly than any plant I have ever seen.
The original lily was so healthy and grew so successfully that it was killing itself with productivity.
Sounds a little like someone I used to know.
The roots were packed so tightly that I could not remove the plants from the pot, and it had to be cut apart with great difficulty.
I had equal difficulty separating the entangled plants which had gone from one to 12 in only the three years. It was major, messy surgery.
I did finally get them apart and repotted most of them into a large underwater basket where they can grow without competition.
In the meantime the entire pond is one gigantic mud puddle since the huge resident frog or the too numerous goldfish wallowed in the newly exposed clay until it all dissolved into the water.This was one of those jobs that like many in life needed, but didn't want, to be done.
It was difficult.
It took time.
It was messy.
It will require patience before I see any results.
But it was the right thing to do; the best thing to do.
And in the end, it will result in healthier, more productive lilies and a more beautiful pond, but at present there is no visible evidence whatsoever that my efforts have been good or fruitful.
On the contrary it appears that I've made a mess of everything, and what I haven't messed up somebody else has.
Which is the nature sometimes of doing what needs to be done in life as well.
We do it because it's right and we know we should, so we leave the results to God.
May all your lilies thrive and bless your pond with shade and beauty.
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