Every year, my Meyer lemon produced beautiful flowers that filled my home with fragrance. Sometimes it even produced lemons!

But then it succumbed to scale.

I spent hours washing, wiping it down with alcohol, and spraying with horticultural oil and Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap. But every year, it lost its leaves and the lemons dropped one by one. Outside, each summer, it recovered, more or less, and we’d start the cycle again.

My husband pushed me to toss it for years. He was practical that way and knew that some things can't be saved — some things aren’t worth the bother. But I don't like to be pushed. And each year I believed I could save it and that that year would be different.

But one day I looked at it, all pitiful next to a beautiful healthy plant, and was ready to let it go. Just because it gave me beauty and fragrance and maybe 4 lemons doesn't mean I owe it (more of) my devotion.

And letting it go means I made room for something new, something I hadn’t tried, something perfect for that space.