For weeks now, my bonsai, a Brazilian rain tree that I have been cultivating for nearly four years, now, has been shedding leaves. While some of this is to be expected—it’s a deciduous tree, after all—it just seemed out of the ordinary. Nearly every morning, I’d discover more yellow amidst the emerald green.
Was I watering it too little? Too much? Was my bonsai upset with the cold weather? The heat pump? Had I lost my touch? I had made sure to give it a little fertilizer to help it through the dark days of winter. A mistake?
Then, last Tuesday, all of a sudden . . . tiny new leaves! A Brazilian rain tree is characterized by multiple, symmetrical leaves that fold up like books at night. These newbies appeared as if a little green library was sprouting. And each day, since, the new leaves have grown larger, opening up to sunlight. It seems my bonsai was communing with all the plants outside that have begun to sprout their own new leaves, in synchrony.
Every spring’s rebirth is a miracle—and a reminder of Nature’s intense imperative to replenish and grow, despite the odds. It’s such a great gift, and a welcomed assurance that even when our world is so chaotic, life rebounds.
Evelyn Herwitz blogs weekly about living fully with chronic disease, the inside of baseballs, turtles and frogs, J.S. Bach, the meaning of life and whatever else she happens to be thinking about at livingwithscleroderma.com. Please view Privacy Policy here.
Lovely!