My Garden's Anti-Makeover

I'm a sucker for makeovers in fashion mags and for before-and-after pictures of any sort. They tap into the part of me that brims with hope, that believes in our potential for transformation. Yep, I fully realize that I'm falling prey to commodification, the beauty ideal, and pretty much every other ill of late capitalism. That still hasn't reformed me. I still experience a new haircut as a stand-in for deeper renewal.

My garden just underwent an extreme makeover. Unfortunately, these before-and-after photos go completely in the wrong direction. They're more like the fashion "don'ts" in Glamour magazine. So here's what my lavender looked like in July:


And here's how it looked on Wednesday.


I'm having a hard time believing in spring right about now. I think I need to make a leap of faith - that the air will warm, the soil will thaw, and I'll be healthy enough to dig. I think I need to pull out my seed catalogs and start planning my garden.