Bittercress is the springtime weed which defies all efforts against it. As I pull hundreds from my yard and garden every year, I feel a relationship with this tenacious plant. I feel it telling me what it knows. It knows how to survive cold, lack of water, heat, bad soil, other agressive plants, being ripped up, being smashed, it seems almost indestructable. The only way to make certain it is stopped is to compost it before it goes to seed, or burn it.
As a metaphor for life, here is what I can learn from bittercress:
It begins growing in the winter, so it can flower as soon as the sun warms..... :)
It knows to hide between other similar plants, wrapping it's roots in such a way as to create more security against being extracted.
It's roots are like elastic, they grip the soil for dear life.
If uprooted, it has reserves in it's stems and roots which allow it to attach into concrete if necessary, seeking out any iota of water or soil to sustain any small part of it's ability to produce seeds.
It produces seed which flies out from the plant stem like trajectories when the plant is barely touched.
It grows small and tough when conditions are harsh, and big and bushy when conditions are ideal.
It doesn't care if it is not liked.
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