Can't Kill Wisteria

We planted a wisteria during the first season where we got really serious about making our backyard pretty.

The idea was to stretch the beautiful vine across the cinderblock wall that makes up our back fence. In the summer those long dangly flowers would bloom and the grey would be awash in color.

We were told this was a bad idea.

Cause if it didn't work,

the wisteria will refuse to die.

And, of course, it didn't work.

The wisteria grew, but it grew over the wall and decorated the only side we couldn't see.

And then we got a little frustrated.

And then we forgot about it.

And then we let the whole of our backyard go to waste.

Cause we had quit smoking and there wasn't any significant reason to go outside.

But this year we decided to make our back yard pretty again. Cause we could still enjoy a glass of wine and a good book and a pretty back yard to enjoy them in.

So the first thing that got hacked away along with the weeds was the disappointing wisteria. Not only did I hack away everything green left on the wisteria base, I covered the bloody stump with a ceramic garden pot, spit three times and said the name of the Scottish play.

That'll do it, I said, and spent the rest of my love on the tomato plant I have officially named Salsa.

So today I noticed a little green bud poking out of the top of the ceramic pot. At first I thought it was some scrap leaf or twig but on closer examination it turn out to be a growing limb of wisteria.

Bereft of water, love and sunlight, the wisteria has bloomed greater than ever before. To no one's surprise but my own.

Cause you can't kill wisteria.

Unless you're my step mom.

She's the only living person known to have killed one. Which has nothing to do with her as a person, nor her gardening ability, or make any statement whatsoever other than the fact that she actually killed a wisteria once.

Which should guarantee her fame and fortune as a footnote in every major horticulture book written in the latter quarter of the 20th century and beyond.

If life was fair.

Which it never is.

Yet despite the fact that one can't kill wisteria, I was shocked by its resilience. Twenty dark green shoots have sprouted from a dead stump in total darkness. And I want so very much to take a metaphor out of a wisteria's invincibility.

Should we be like the wisteria, life and vitality from a dark dead stump?

Should we fear wisteria, can't kill that which refuses to die, and it will come for you when you least expect it?

Or is it a cautionary tale? Listen to those who warn you about the dreaded wisteria, for you can only make that mistake once.

I don't know.

I think we should take them all at once.

Yes, like the wisteria, we can rise against all odds, but so can zombies, so never let go of your dreams, and learn how to shoot a crossbow.