Pruning: Vitality Practices for Plants and People

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Nature is our map and our guide.

I say this often, and I mean it. When I’m at a crossroads or contemplating what is happening within me and around me, I turn to nature to illuminate the essence of growth and change. Nature metaphors point me towards a natural understanding of the current conditions and offer me guidance about what I can do to work with the dynamics at hand.

Eighteen months ago I moved from Utah to Hawai’i. I’ve changed climatic zones, hardiness zones, latitude and longitude. I’m in a new natural environment and I am being taught new lessons and developing new skills.

Everything changes in a move, except the things we bring with us.

Pruning - it doesn’t come naturally to me. When gardening and growing in Utah I was focused on growth, growth, growth. The window was so small - often only 45 frost free days. I rarely pruned. (only if the branches had died over the winter) I just prayed that the shoots and seedlings would make it through the season - often they didnʻt.

There are implications of too much growth - it becomes constricting, strangling, burdensome, unruly. An overgrown vine of lilikoi will strangle a tree. If a citrus tree gets too big, it won’t put on fruit as abundantly and we won’t be able to reach the fruits when they ripen. Ti plants become gangly and susceptible to wind damage if allowed to get too long and spindly. To gather the glorious puakenikeni blossoms for lei, one must prune the branches to keep them from growing to high and remove the seed pods so all the energy goes towards the blossoms.

Pruning is a necessity for healthy, sustainable growth.

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It takes courage to prune. I am amazed at how deeply my neighbors cut back their hedges and their trees. Often it looks like a bunch of sticks poking up out of the ground.

Then, the new growth appears. Healthier, more full, bursting with blossoms and fruits. This abundance was possible through cutting away the old growth, the excess.

When to prune? How much to prune? These are important questions. Sometimes plants need more compost, more light, less water. Learning the language of nature is a deep practice of observation, trial and error.

Iʻve been pruning relationships. This is the hardest.

Some of the pruning happening in my personal and professional life has not been my conscious choice. I think the master gardener of the universe has been pruning the strangling and unproductive relationships on my behalf. In their place have grown friendships and a new way of being with family that is live a fresh breath of springtime.

Many of us may have a practice of sowing seeds of intention, creating conditions for growth, tending to our projects with devotion and (hopefully) watch our visions come to life.

Have some of your own goals and ambitions taken on a life of their own? Is the lilikoi vine out of control?

Are you feeling strangled by too much growth, too many projects? Are the projects and people that used to bring vitality now feel stale, musty and outdated? Is your soul yearning for the new? What gives? What needs to go?

It may be pruning season.

This takes courage. At first I would only cut back a little bit. I was fearful of cutting away too much - that maybe the plant wouldn’t recover. Occasionally they didn’t. This is the risk.

I became more strategic, learning exactly where to make the cut. Pruning at the right place, at the right time, keeping the general shape in mind, led to a healthy, productive, beautiful plant. I turned to the wisdom of the season and have been pruning in the Fall and Winter to prepare for the Spring. Itʻs an experiment and we shall see how it goes. Iʻve been learning from master gardeners with much more experience than me. Iʻve been listening, watching, wondering and trying.

What can you let go of? What can you simplify? Turn your growth into compost, focus on the core of your work. Allow for the next phase to emerge.

Thank you for your time and for reading Dear One ❤️. I wish you blessings and vitality in the garden of your life.