That is the real triumph--triumphing over sickness, in it; triumphing over death, dying; triumphing over adverse circumstances, in them. Oh, believe me, there is a power that can make us victors in the strife. There are heights to be reached where we can look down and over the way we have come, and sing our song of triumph on this side of Heaven. We can make others regard us as rich, while we are poor, and make many rich in our poverty. Our triumph is to be in it. Christ's triumph was in His humiliation. Possibly our triumph, also, is to be made manifest in what seems to others humiliation. --Margaret Bottome


There are many things in the garden that require triumphing over:

• The gorgeous bear that after 20 years found a way into my back yard and almost destroyed my smaller apple tree, it also ripped off branches on the crab apple tree in the front yard. He has been around for years but so many people leave their garbage cans out and entice him to hang around longer and longer each fall. I don't want to report him as this is his land too.
• The blue berries seldom rescued soon enough from the many varieties of birds, all I would have to do is cover them, however by the time I think about it, they are almost gone. 
• The strawberries, would do much better if I weeded them and watered them regularly, first thing in the day rather then thinking of it in the evening
• The tayberries, my favorite fruit and the jam is delicious. Mulching and watering work well but I seem to graze on them so much by the time I think about jam, hmmm there are not enough left to make a batch. I made freezer jam two years ago but it didn't set quite the same and I prefer the intensive work of certo and boiling them. 
• The raspberries are a great treat and if I didn't graze on them so often I could make jam out of them as well. 
• The weeds, are endless and if I don't keep on top of them they recur in cycles, with some regeneration can go on for 50 years like the thistles. 
• The lilies just keep on giving and I love them and am so grateful for their determination to grow and spread.
• The dahlias are fussier and require regular watering, that takes self discipline on my part.
• The rhododenrons and azealeas really need to be fertilized and watered and as some are under the eves need more than those set out in the garden proper. 
• The tulip magnolia develop a wilt a couple of years back and some branches started dying and now all of sudden it is coming back to life, unexplainable really as I had a professional horticulturist look at it for me and he said that it was dying with a fungus.
• The dogs, two little white ones, where on earth do they make it all. Drop their droppings all over the back yard and I really don't like pooper scooping and my dear heart used to do that, now it is my job I find myself avoiding it until the mess lands on the bottom of my shoes and the annoyance is a reminder that excuses are not acceptable. 
• The racoons as they clamber all over my plum and cherry trees and rip off the leaves as they eat everything they can reach.  If I am fast I can get to the plums first but the cherries are just turning ripe and they are gone overnight. They rip the boards off my fence as it slowly ages and weakens. Most of it has been replaced but they sure know where to find the weakest parts. 
• There are the rats in the compost, lovely to watch but deadly carriers of disease. They come up from the chicken farm and nest in my neighbour's wood shed. I have ways to take care of them which I will not mention.
• The wilt on the tomatoes in the greenhouse, looking lovely one day and the next yukkk!! Now that could be my fault for not watering and fertilizing sufficiently. I'm busy and I really need to renew the soil every year. Taking out the old stuff or doing them in pots with fresh soil.
• The deer are still around but not so much and I have learned over time to plant lots of irises around the roses and they pretty much ignore them now. Sometimes I plant a delicacy they enjoy, or if there are young ones they will often taste test everything so nothing is safe for a few weeks. 
• My greatest triumph is walking around my garden in the evening and enjoying the scents and scenes and  stillness on a day when there is no wind in Sooke, make that about 10 days a year.