Planting Season Is In Full Bloom!

Planting Season is in full bloom! Every year I spruce up all the potted succulents in my yard. Looking at each one, I pray and ask God for guidance. Inevitably the work always starts with cleaning out the dead leaves. Only the living parts of the plant are left after the pruning is complete. Next, He guides me to take sections out of each one and re-pot them with other succulents. Next, I freshen them up with new soil. The point is to make each one look new. Quite often, the process takes days. It’s fun to walk around my yard and see the finished project.

How To Start

Here’s what you’ll need:

• Potted plants that need yearly maintenance.
• Potting soil.
• Hand shovel.
• Pruning shears.
• Planting cloth.
• Garden gloves.
• Watering can.

Replace the old

Pruning is an essential part of growing when the planting season is in full bloom. Cutting back must be done for each plant to be healthy. It can be tedious to pull or cut out all the dead stuff, but it’s worth the work. Here’s the next step:

• Pray for God’s guidance before starting; continue to ask him for help.
• After you put on gloves, begin to pull out all the dead leaves from underneath each plant and in the pot.
• Put all dead foliage in the compost bin.

Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. John 15:2

Bring in the New

• Pick a pot with existing plants (each pot should have 2 or more in each).
• Section out a succulent with approximately 2 inches of soil all the way around the plant.
• Set it aside and do the next one so there is one plant left in the pot.
• Grab another pot and section out a succulent that will go nicely with the one you just did.
• Repot it with the previous one and add another succulent until there are 3.
• Fill in will soil, and pack it in, so they are secure and looking fresh.
• Water in the plants.

The idea is to play a game of musical succulents. It’s a matter of repotting the plants to look good and grow well with the ones you place them with. It’s an issue of trial and error; remember, if you don’t like how it turns out, you can either change it or replant it next season. Continue until you have repotted all your succulents.

Finish Up the Planting

Finishing up is part of the fun! It’s a joyful process to find sweet spots in the yard to place the completed plants. Try to stash the pots to look best with the right shade and sun for optimum growth. Pray over each one so they will grow and bring a blessing through the whole season.

The Planting Season- is in full bloom

As I finish up, I wonder how God feels as He cleans out all the old/dead leaves of our lives? What does He think about the messy stuff He finds? What about the weeds that need to be cleaned out? Does He mind all the pruning that needs to be done or removing the dry and dead pieces? Does He find joy in the work He is doing? And, does He stand back and look at the finished product? I think that He does!

For before the harvest, when the blossom is over, and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He cuts off the shoots with pruning hooks, and the spreading branches He lops off and clears away. Isaiah 18:5

The cross is proof that God cares enough to clean up and clear away all of our messes. He died so that we can be clean and free of all the things that hold us back from growing. Sometimes Jesus needs to add a little soil or water, where at other times, He needs to prune us clear back or replant us in a new place so we can grow stronger than before. The point is, the work that God does in our lives is meant to bring new growth and glorify Him wherever He places us.