Crape Myrtle.

It's 5:30 in the morning when I wake up. No alarm. I just wake up. I get up from bed and think for a moment of what needs to be done today, but before I get carried away with the responsibilities before me, I take a walk. It's a short walk, but it's one I look forward to just the same. I walk towards the back of my house, to the door that leads to my backyard. In my enclosed porch, I slip on my flip-flops in the dark and turn towards my trees. I take a few steps and I stop. There, in the quite of early morning, in the low light of dawn, I am taken in by nature. I scan the benches and look over the yard in general. It's so still. I know that there are thing I have to do, but I just stand there.

This is my moment, my meditation, my prayer for a good day. There, in the dark, everything is fine.

The moment passes and I move again. I go outside and examine my trees a little closer. I might pull some weeds. I may remove a too tight wire. I may turn some trees around so that their exposure to light is even. I may do none of these things.

Bougainvillia in Bloom.

I head to the water faucet and grab my garden hose. It has a rosette attachment that emits a cooling and cleansing shower for my trees. I go from tree to tree making sure that each one gets a good blast of water to hopefully wash away any beasties that might be making a meal of the leaves. I make sure that the soil in the pot is well watered. It will get hot. It always does, and some of these trees would not appreciate a single dry day.

As I go along, I look at each tree and think, "where is this tree going"? It's something one must do regularly if you plan to have nice trees. A tree left to its own devices is wasted time and effort. You have to be diligent in controlling what is happening. A rouge branch left on too long cold ruin the perfect taper you've cultivated over the last ten years. Or that overly fast growth could leave your branches looking heavy and immature.

Juniperus Procumbens 'nana'.

It's during this time that I start making mental notes about what bigger tasks should be taken care of that weekend. Should I be wiring this tree? Should I be taking wire off? Will I defoliate? Will I prune? These are not things I would tackle at that time. But they are being noted.

I finish my watering and my mental notes. The hose gets coiled back to its proper place. The trees weep their excess water and create the only sound in this still very early morning.

I turn and go back to the rest of my life, life outside this garden. It's different and it's good, but it's these quite mornings that make them just a little better.