In My Garden

Jesus came on Tuesday. Jesus takes care of me. Not the Jesus that floats around up in the sky somewhere, but a tall, good-looking Hispanic who weeds and mows my yard. This time he dug up and transplanted iris.

Three years ago Emma gave me three little iris plants. I brought them home on the train from Fort Worth in a brown plastic grocery bag. In this short time the plants multiplied until they chocked everything around them. The purple sage bush, where they began as little plants in front, was surrounded and suffocating.

Jesus dug them up and divided them, and now I have a row of iris across the front of the house and around the crepe myrtle.

All life wants to multiply. We kill mountain lions and let the deer grow free in the forest. We limit the numbers that human hunters may kill. The deer multiply so fast that they strip the woods of edible vegetation. Then the deer go out searching for food on farms and around suburban houses. They strip expensive landscaping of everything except marigolds.

Many years ago there was a book called “The Population Explosion.” It has happened. China is the only country which is attempting control with its “one child per family.” Part of the problem in Dharfur is too many people for that dessert to support. In Mexico devout Catholics do not practice birth control. My cleaning lady told me her mother had 25 children. Thirteen survived. Now a citizen of the U.S., Esther has two. Does anyone really believe that the people who sneak across the border are all terrorists bent on destroying us? No. They want work to feed their families.

When my iris multiply again, I’ll have Jesus dig them out by the roots. If my neighbors do not want them, I will throw them away. We can not do that with excess humans.

Any suggestions?