Throwing Shade

 

Something I’ve noticed in these recent weeks of Spring as my hostas have emerged and flowers bloomed is that something has fundamentally changed with my five decorative bushes that line the space between my front porch and short sidewalk.  

I planted them five years ago when we first moved here and they have remained a faded bluish green with no change in size.  Some years there have been troubling beigey-brown patches where some of the bristles had dried up and died, or nearly so.

This year about early to mid-May I saw something that surprised me.  They were actually a bit bigger this year and more startling was the fact that there was new growth around the tops sprigging out in new directions with a light yellowish-green tint.

It’s Jennifer who figured out the huge oak tree had been shading so much of the front yard that not enough sun was getting to them.  And now that I look around I see other plants are benefiting from the lack of the large shadow canopy of the oak.

And boy did I mourn the loss of that magnificent tree!  But now I’m wondering if I’m overly shadowing my children in my need to soak in the sun and somehow depriving them of sustenance by way of being over-directive?  It’s a thought.

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