Invasion

The Leaves of  Ranuculus repens  Creeping buttercup

For the past several years I've been fighting  this low growing perennial, Ranuculus repens , Creeping buttercup, "opportunistic colonizers" according to Wikipedia. Many years ago I found this inconspicuous plant, which is usually in the woods,  hiding near the foundation of the house, mostly out of sight and out of the way. I didn't know it's identity and tenacity until it bloomed.

Yellow flowers appear this month to herald the invasion

 It has invaded the long border that faces south and seems not the same diminutive plant I see in the woods outside the gates of our garden. I guess this is how it is "opportunistic".Next thing I knew, being away from the long border for a while due to illness, it took over all.
For several years, not liking to apply herbicides, I've tried to dig out the roots to exterminate it. But it seems that, much like the bindweed, one little piece of root will propagate many more plants.

So I decide to cut some flowers and bring them inside. I watch them for a few days. They don't wilt. Every night they close up their petals and every day they open them up again, looking as good as they were the day before.

There is a sort of luminosity to them and every day they glow in my face. I guess this is what we did with buttercups as a child. We picked them and placed it under a friend's chin to "See if they liked butter" by the yellow glow on their skin. The buttercups were not invasive then, or so it seemed. But times have changed.

Believing that God is sovereign in all life, I ask, "For what purpose are they taking over the garden beds and what am I to do about it?" 

Perhaps they are a strange metaphor:

What creeps into our lives, unannounced and seems to take over without our even recognizing it until too late, starts to rule our lives and change it. Eradicating it seems hopeless. Can we ever bring something back to where it was or where we thought it was? I see this happening in all of life, our families, our community, our country, and even greater in the world. 

But by the grace of God:

• Keep a watchful eye around you.
• Be proactive.
• Look to the world and anywhere in your country and life where harm is creeping in.
• Pray fervently for grace, wisdom and eyes to be open for solutions, words and actions.

Where in your life can you ask for God's grace to redeem you so you can return to peace and His control which is the solution to tough problems?

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."  Jesus speaking to Paul
"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" Paul 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 NIV

cleaning up

"Buttercups" oil by J. Mat Miller

The "good" wild buttercups

This week I decided to get outside to clean up the pampas grass that was dragging its feet all over the patio while I was busy elsewhere. Every gust of wind dislodged sharp edged blades, spewing them across the patio and down the stone steps, a danger to anything in its path. As I cut and cleaned I thought about the Spotted Tohwee that hung around this area and hoped I would not disturb a nest. I got carried away and after a half hour of pulling out the dead grasses and cutting the old flower stalks, I looked up to see right in front of my eyes a perfectly formed grassy nest with four fresh green and reddish brown mottled eggs. I quickly stepped back, grabbed some of the cut Pampas flower stalks and lodged them tightly in front of the nest hoping to return it to invisible. I prayed it would be protected and not abandoned because of me. Here I destroy what I should not.

Yet in the same week I recall that I keep what I should not. For a long time there was native buttercup in the shade by the long flower border and I left it there because I liked the delicate yellow flower. Someone mentioned to me that I should not have buttercup in the garden and I stated that it behaved itself and never went anywhere else. That was until the seed landed in the fertilized and watered garden, taking advantage of my business elsewhere and spreading very rapidly.

I don’t know if this was the same type as the former, they certainly behaved differently, but this Ranunculus repens L., an immigrant from Europe, has healed itself in. As hard as I tried to shovel it out, I couldn’t help cutting off roots which clung to the clayish soil and wouldn’t let loose. Slugs made their home in the leaf clusters and nodules sent out new shoots to make more plants. I read that seeds stay in the ground for years, waiting for opportunities to flourish and take over. Who knows what I have left behind for future invasion?


While I was busy elsewhere, it had taken over 8 feet of the front of the bed into the grass another three feet in places. I guess I need to be more diligent and watchful. Now between it and the bindweed, the other non native immigrant, I have to destroy the lawn and lay waste the border for a season, taking plants out to put in pots and poisoning the rest if it persists.

It is a familiar theme, getting rid of and keeping stuff, as we try to consolidate. I guess I can’t get away from it, even following me outside. As hard as I try, I seem to do the things I don’t want to do and don’t do what I ought.

“...For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
For what I do is not the good I want to do – this I keep doing …What a wretched
man (woman) I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God –
through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:18, 24-25

I guess I need a season of laying waste, watching out for what might crop up unwanted in me, getting rid of it quickly out of my life before it takes over and not be so busy elsewhere for awhile.

How about you?