Spreaders--in the Garden and in Life

I now have a hillside's worth of plants laid out on tarps in the shade. It's odd to look at 20 years worth of plants stacked up like piles of clothes at a rummage sale.

In the digging, i discovered several white plastic plant tags of plants that didn't make it. In the end, the spreaders prevailed--golden glow, spiderwort, Artemisia, evening primrose, daylilies, irises, and goatsbeard (Aruncus). I found 2 delphiniums and a puny peony. The white Echinacea never took hold.

When we look back at the fruits (or flowers) of our life, what do we see that prevailed? Material goods (e.g., "The one with the most toys wins.")? Good works? Work? Family?

And what is it that we intend?

A month before she died, my mother said, "I didn't intend for it to turn out this way, but that's the way life goes when you mistreat it." (She was an alcoholic.)

One of my intentions is to meditate for 2 or 3 hours a day, but i seldom do. I've recently made a pact with a Dharma friend to meditate 2 hours a day. This "Dharma dare" is helping me reach my goal, but it's still hard.

The spreaders in my life--the garden itself, various commitments, and just plain busy-ness--threaten to overrun my good intentions. "Later," i think. But it may be later than i think.