an invincible summer

This was once a little lettuce seed that has survived the winter. It was plugged into the ground without a whole lot of care last fall and left to do what it could.

Fall came with its bonfires and shorter days. Rain. Sleet. Cold, cold nights. And, it wilted a little. In the cold of winter when the other sprouts sank back into earth, it was not much to look at. But it grew.

It sat, squat, in the ground while the other summer plants went dormant. It hung out with the rosemary and the thyme and the sage. All creatures of a winter garden. It amazed me because it sat there, green(ish) and happy all through the snow and rain of January and February. And even survived the last cold snap that killed the rosemary.

In spring it shook off it's winter blues and stood as tall as it's short little self could.. it was visited by bunnies, our neighbor's cat, and sweet little girls who played around it.

And here it is--no longer really edible. It has bolted and bolted and bolted. But I wonder how far it is willing to go. It now provides shade for the lavender that thinks the sun is too bright, so it provides a service I don't usually assign to lettuce.

I love to have it keep me company in my garden. A reminder that even the tenderest creatures can withstand the winter, and even the smallest of us hide a magnificent endurance.

"In the depth of winter I found that, within me, there lay an invincible summer."

~Alfred Camus