Japanese Kerria

Japanese Kerria is now in flower, producing a fulsome yellow bloom. The RHS warns that it is good for woodland settings but may form large thickets and has the potential to become a nuisance

What a shame, that a shrub capable of producing so beautiful a flower should be associated with the word nuisance. Yet the plant itself has serious nuisances of its own, chiefly the fungus Blumeriella kerriae, which attacks only this species. It causes defoliation and ugly stem lesions, resulting in an infected plant's death. The fungus is prevalent in America but has not yet cross the Atlantic.

We have here a picture of sin. We are both its casualties and its propagators. It vexes us, yet by it, we ourselves vex others. I suffer because of my sinful nature, yet I am also the cause of suffering in others. I am sin’s victim as well as its loyal employer.

Thank God, I am saved by Christ Jesus, who was both High Priest and sacrificial offering. He restores sin's victims and transforms its vicious advocates.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. Ezekiel 36:26-27