Scotch Broom

Scotch Broom lives just off the Western porch of the cabin. This winter, the heavy snows crushed the plant almost flat. In the spring, its branches were broken and bent. It laid brown and beaten, seemingly lifeless. We didn't think it would make it through the summer.

It is now almost six feet tall and reaching higher. After blooming in the spring, it seems to have rebuilt itself. New growth is bursting from every branch with no remnants of the past winter's destruction.

I am struck by Scotch Broom. This seemingly unstoppable plant regrew from a tangled mess of twisted branches into a beautiful upward flowing cascade of green tendrils. From what seemed like unrecoverable injuries, Scotch Broom lives on taller and stronger than ever.

Perhaps it is its flexibility that allowed it to survive, or perhaps a refusal to let go, or maybe for Scotch Broom, there is no trajectory of living that does not include regrowing. I don't know, but Broom teaches me that regrowing from what seems like catastrophic destruction is possible. I will carry this lesson with me.