Read Online Mister Owita's Guide to Gardening: How I Learned the Unexpected Joy of a Green Thumb and an Open Heart by Carol Wall - Free Book Online

though I’m glad to see its roots have apparently sunk in deep beside this creek, where it seems to thrive.
    I must admit the azaleas look better already. Sarah and I strolled around to the side of the house yesterday afternoon, and we were able to see the tips of their pink buds showing through the leaves. You’ll be glad to know that she encouraged me to listen to your advice, on all fronts, as you are “the best,” as she put it.
    My prayers for Lok continue. Please always let me know if there is any news. Thank you for all your efforts, and be sure to leave your bill, from time to time. I look forward to working with you again soon.
    Sincerely,
    Carol Wall
    WEDNESDAY
    Dear Mrs. Wall,
    My calendar is clear on Friday. Bienta and I have some business matters to attend to in the a.m., but I will check by your house after your school hours and will bring the appropriate tools.
    Lok’s case appeared to be nearing a breakthrough recently, but last evening’s phone call from Bienta’s sister in Nairobi (it was after midnight there) brought news of yet more entanglements with medical examinations, affidavits, and other paperwork. After so long a time has passed, some of the materials lapse out of date, and the process must be started again, with more funds dueand waiting periods in effect. I am sorry to tell you that there can be corruption anywhere on the globe, and persons who are highly placed are often subject to temptation. A travel visa to the US is much coveted. Sometimes, even DNA tests are required to establish the applicant’s identity. We are in the midst of that process.
    In any case, Bienta and I thank you for your prayers. She has always been very devout, and insists that, in any circumstance, prayers are needed even more than patience, more than funds, signatures, sworn statements, or anything whatsoever that a government run by human beings might be able to produce. As we “wait in joyful hope” for our daughter, I look forward to the pleasure of finding the best lines of your beautiful birch tree in among the overflourishing branches and copious leaves it has produced during the years of your children’s growing up. That day of cutting back will produce a clearer shape that will bring its own rewards. I will submit my first bill after that.
    In closing, let me say that I am going to bring an extra pair of gardening gloves on Friday. Oftentimes, assistance is needed with larger garden projects, and I was delighted to hear that you will be on hand to help.
    With best wishes,
    Giles Owita

5.
Anticipated Blooms
    A gentle breeze sifted through the branches of my backyard birch tree. Giles stood beside me, managing to look both serious and cheerful. His left hand grasped a pruning saw and pruning shears. I held out a clothbound book.
    “Betula nigra
is occasionally called a river birch,”
I read aloud.
“The tree is native to an area spanning most parts of the eastern United States . . . from New Hampshire west to southern Minnesota, and south to northern Florida and West Texas. It often grows to eighty feet, with multiple trunks. After pruning, scaffold branches should look like ascending spokes around a central axle.”
I turned the book toward Giles, to show him the picture. He nodded respectfully, to indicate he took it in. “
This will provide a structurally strong tree that is attractive, balanced, and allows sunlight to penetrate and wind to pass through thecanopy. To ensure strength, major scaffold branches should have at least eight inches and preferably twenty inches of vertical separation
. Should I get a yardstick, Giles? I have one in the house.”
    He didn’t answer right away. I heard the whistling wind and birdsong, the flapping wings of a red hawk soaring high above the burbling creek. I wondered if Giles appreciated the information I was sharing with him. I hadn’t meant to come across as arrogant or heavy-handed. It’s just that, working together, I thought we could achieve the