Wednesday, March 26, 2003

Garden Invaders I recently moved to a house in the Richmond district of San Francisco with a once-flourishing but recently neglected organic flower and vegetable garden. The Calla lilies were allowed to flower and seed last season, and they have lodged into every crack between fences and walkways, their rhizomes swelling to ensure a certain hold on existance. They are such a nusance that I must call them weeds, much to the chagrin of those who live outside CA Zone 17 who pay five dollars a stem for their elegant presence. Calla lilies aren't really lilies but Aroids--either way, no matter how lovely they are, I don't want them sprouting from the cracks, I want them full of Scotch moss or creeping Chamomile so I try to dig out the errant greenery, to trace them to the rhizomes that lie underfoot. After much effort I find a mass of them lying six inches under the walkway. I collect as many as I can. The ones that remain out of reach will, when the season comes, negotiate the maze, sending out shoots a horizontally at first, then vertically toward the source of the warmth to fulfill their destinies. These flowers might look demure but I can tell you that they are fierce. I not only find rhizomes of Calla lilies, but bulbs of a true lily and of society garlic. They have worked so hard, I put them in a bag and promise to plant them elsewhere next season, in a friend's garden, or in pots to give as gifts, or in Golden Gate Park. Finished with that task -- for now -- I stand contemplating the volunteer vegetables. I am not alone. A gopher snacks on the leeks, I actually see the plant shaking and pull it up in time to save just a morsel for myself. I check a mint that is sending out armies of tendrils just under the dirt, trying to take over the world. Planting a tomato, I dig a hole, lining it with chicken wire against the gopher, and shatter the universe of an ant colony. Fighting for my space amongst these tiny competitors, my life shrinks to fit an adjusted perspective. 1:20:01 PM

© Copyright 2003 Carla King. Last update: 4/3/03; 8:21:55 PM.