"But only God can make a tree..."

Three months ago, I took a taxi to a bonsai fair to an area I wasn't familiar with near Greenhills. Less than an hour later, I was on the ride home in the same taxi with eight mini bonsais.

I have long been a frustrated plant-grower. But alas, my thumbs, both left and right, are really just fleshly brown and not green at all. So I would end up buying the plants but have someone else take care of them. The closest I got was to sit the plants where I want them whether out in the yard or indoor, and delight in them. I refrain from watering them because I always overestimate and they eventually die from too much water.

That day, I acquired a jadelet, jade tree, serissa, cactus, and Japanese bush in pretty little Japanese ceramic pots and dishes. 

Upon arriving home, I took pictures of them. Then I went online and researched on each of the plants. I wanted to be sure I knew how best to care for them in our setting. 

The tallest of them were 7", both Japanese bush. 

The two serissas both came as a bunch of individual plants. The smaller bunch was about three-inch tall and the taller one, about 5".

Two cacti of different varieties also took my fancy. 

Both about an inch tall, the one in the orange container is the smallest of the eight I got that day. It has me thinking still if it is real or a replica cleverly crafted by an expert miniaturist. 

The jadelet has pretty little light
green leaves outlined in white and a very light shade of brown. About two-inch tall, it sits atop tiny white pebbles. 

















The jade tree is about four inches tall. It has a sturdy trunk, with a little rock perched right beside some of its roots.

Sadly, as of today, it is the last one standing along with the littlest cactus. The bigger serissa went to Elsie while the rest have all gone, their pots and dishes lying in wait until i can pick up some succulents.

Many of the jade tree's leaves have fallen off. Gone are their matte green and "fatty" look. 

But I am nursing it back to health. Bent on just doing my part, I pray sitting it daily by the open window on that side of the room where the morning sun shines directly then back by my bed at dusk will somehow work. 

I believe what Joyce Kilmer said in his poem Trees that indeed, only God can make a tree. And I take comfort in the knowledge that God knows our hearts better than we do and ensures the best for us no matter how things seem. 

Meantime, I am trying to harvest as much as I can in the process, believing that the God who transforms is at work in and on me just as He is with my little jade tree. However my little jade tree (or my littlest cactus) ends, it will be all right.