Quest

An expedition into the wilderness of thoughts and ideas inspired by nature and the travels of Backcountry Ben

Bittersweet Truth

The quest for truth is a never-ending task, however tempting it may be to say, “Now I understand” or “Now I know what the truth of the matter is.” Truth can be multi-layered and, too often, the truth one discovers is simply the most obvious of those layers, or the portion of the truth that one is prepared to recognize and accept.

Sometimes that discovered “truth” is what presents itself to the light of day, while there is much more lying just beneath the surface, out of sight.

Gardening is a useful tool for sorting such things out. Not only does it get the gardener out of the house and into the fresh air and sunshine, and provide the opportunity to grow and control what is to be consumed for food, it gives the gardener time to contemplate the bigger questions of life. And sometimes the plants speak.

That is what happened while trimming back the overgrowth and attacking the invasive weeds that are trying to take over the entire property, if not the town, the state, the country, or the world.

While clearing away some pine and oak trees that have taken root around the garage, several of them displayed beautifully sculpted trunks curving around and around like well-forged twist-spindle iron work. They grew that way because of the vines that were choking them, threatening to kill them. The beauty pointed to the danger, and the need to get rid of the bittersweet that had spread across the yard.

Bittersweet can be easy to pull out of the ground, or it can be very difficult. The odd thing is that a thick-rooted plant that is impossible to pull out may, if left alone for a few minutes, become easy to pull on a second try. It may be due to the other plants that have been attacked and removed, loosening the root’s hold on the ground — or perhaps the plant has decided to give up and let it go.

That is the thought that occurred after observing the phenomena over the course of a couple of hours.

Bittersweet, like other plants, develops from a seed. Often, the seed is deposited after a bird has eaten the bright red berries of another bittersweet plant. The seedling will develop into a vine that wastes no  time in wrapping around the nearest tree, flower, or fence.

Meanwhile, the plant’s root begins extending just beneath the surface, sending up new shoots which begin their climb. The root anchors itself as best it can and grows thicker with time, with some said to reach three inches in diameter.

It becomes important, therefore, to pull up the plants as early as possible. While young, they easily detach from the root and the gardener may be fooled into thinking that’s the end of it. The more experienced gardener will realize the root is still there and try to get hold of it to yank it out of the ground. That is more easily done with the more mature bittersweet stalks, before they begin entangling themselves around the trees. Pulling up those plants will bring a portion of the root with it.

And that is where the strategy comes in. Strategy on the plant’s part.

Once it becomes clear that the gardener is going to win, by pulling up all of the vines, the root that has been so difficult to move suddenly is pulled with ease. The root may extend a few feet as it is pulled from the ground, but finally it gives way.

The gardener, victorious, turns away.

At least, that is what the plant is hoping will happen. For, beneath the surface, the rest of the root, with all of its current and future shoots, lies quietly. Like the Borg’s collective intelligence, from the Star Trek franchise, bittersweet seems to have a collective intelligence that says, “Let that section go, and we’ll refocus our energies on what’s left. With any luck, the rest of us will be free to expand and grow and take over the world.”

That is the sort of thing one thinks about while pulling up bittersweet. And since gardening is all about contemplation of the bigger questions, the gardener asks, “What can I learn from this revelation?”

Ah! Truth!

Just as the gardener is tempted to feel victorious and turn away from the bittersweet root system beneath his feet, the truth-seeker who has discovered a fact that explains the current situation is tempted to turn away, saying, “Now I understand.”

But there is a lot more to understand if one looks deeper.

22 October 2017