About 2 months ago, or so, I decided to move a few of my plants I had in my garden. I knew that this was probably not a smart move, since it is summer time and very warm here in Texas, I did it anyways. I moved two lantanas first. (later this fall I'll be moving all of them, because they are very crowded where they are right now, when the landscaper put them in, they were very small, and perfect for just being on the edge of the flowerbeds, they've grown. I cut them back on a weekly basis, to keep them nice, but you still cant really see behind them. anyways...) so i chose out my "guinea pig" lantanas, and I found a spot for them (just 4 feet or so back in the flowerbed, they have good sun and will have room to grow...) I got the new holes dug, and then carefully took out the lantanas and then put them in the new holes and watered the holes and everything- as they were being covered up with the dirt, I could see the leaves already wilting. I watered it, and hoped that over time it would come back....
I went ahead and took a bougainvillea out of the garden. I read somewhere that bougainvilleas really don't like to be spread out- like placed in just the ground. well they'll be fine, just they wont flower. ... and c'mon, that's the most beautiful part about a bougainvillea. ....
**this is not our bougainvillea, just a photo I found....
So I read that they do well in pots. they like their roots to be as compact, in order to bloom.
So I grabbed a spare pot from the garage
anyways so off i went to dig that sucker out and put it in the pot... and again, when I did it, just like the lantana, it began to wilt (although not as quickly, i did realize that about after an hour of it being transplanted it was wilting.)
At this point with both I began to try a few different things with both plants.
I realized that they were (hopefully) just going through "transplant shock"
So i watered (and somewhat limited the watering to the bougainvillea -since they don't like alot of water) I moved the bougainvillea into the shade at one point, and then put it back in the sun. I moved it all over the yard, I trimmed them both way back to limit the energy (probably something i should have done when i first transplanted...) bottom line, it took a few weeks, but they are doing good!! no droopy leaves. the lantana has begun to bloom (a little) no blooms yet on the bougainvillea, but maybe next year.
ok. so i do have a point with all of this. I didn't just want to tell you how to garden.
So i noticed a little analogy.
We have to make changes in our life to be closer to God. We have to change ourselves to not be wrapped up in worldly things. We have to change in order to grow. We have to understand that we have to get used to a new way of living, to be with God. We cannot think that we can still participate in activities that God has forbidden us to do, and still think that God will be OK with it (confess your sins, He'll forgive them... but we must understand that we have to change our ways.)
After some time though, we will flourish. We have to get our bearings after we give up the things that God has said that we cannot do, and we will flourish in ways that will please him.
Even though the lantanas & the bougainvillea weren't "sinning" We just placed them in the wrong spots of the garden, we knew that they needed to be in a different place so that they can flourish... sure they didn't look good at the beginning, they were in 'shock' that something different has happened to them, but the lantanas have already begun to flourish, because it has the space to flourish, and I don't have to cut it back, i can allow it to grow, and produce all of the blooms that it desires. The bougainvillea is getting there... I think we'll have blooms on it next year (spring/early summer) we'll see though.
