by Cheryl Wilfong, Guest Blogger

I bought a pale yellow datura in the spring. Since the summer was hot and dry, not much happened, but now that it’s cool and dry, the Georgia O’Keefe flower is blooming.

I’ve grown the lavender daturas (a.k.a. jimsonweed) before and sworn off the thorny seed pod because next year, datura pops up in several places. Mostly, i weed out the little seedlings, but this year i kept one lavender datura out in the vegetable garden. 

Like the scattering of datura seeds, we never know how the effects of our actions ripple out, but ripple they do. That’s a good reason to speak and act as skillfully as we are able.

In these days of heated political dissension, it’s especially important to act and speak as calmly as we can.

 Victory begets hatred; 

the defeated dwell in pain. 

Happily the peaceful live, 

discarding both victory and defeat.

Cheryl is a Teacher and Co-Founder of Vermont Insight Medication Center in Brattleboro, VT. This is an entry from her award-winning blog, The Meditative Gardener, reposted from late September 2020 and just as relevant today.