Keep the faith

Look at that beautiful vine growing in the corner of the patio there.
(pay no attention to my daughter and her hula-hoop, even though she is REALLY good at it, but that's not important right now)
I swear.
I have these four big, fat pots sitting in each corner of my patio and in them are these amazingly gorgeous flowering vines.
No, this isn't like my version of a Jedi mind trick -"these aren't the droids you're looking for." =D
The only problem is that they seem to completely die off in the winter.
This is California, remember, and we don't really know how to "do" seasons.
So, in the fall and winter, when they get all dry and crackly and the leaves fall off, it looks as if I'm cultivating twigs.
And I tend to despair a little.
And then I think I should maybe try to do something about it.
I don't know what.
Do I continue to water the twigs?
Fertilize maybe?
Re-pot?
Take them out and burn them?
Replace them with something that looks green all the time?
(there's a lot of mental hand-wringing happening at the same time)

But then, the weather starts to warm up and things start to change.
And it seems to happen almost overnight.
And I didn't even notice when the change occurred.
But it did.
And I did nothing . . . but hold on to a promise.

Amazing, isn't it?