~The Little Flower That Could~

When we moved to Iowa we left behind a lovely garden, full of vegetables, cantaloupe, lilies, daffodils, daylilies, and tulips.  It was bittersweet listening to my mother talk about all the amazing fresh produce she was gathering that year from our old garden.  While we were excited to be in our first very own home (with our name on the mortgage and everything) we were not up to the challenge of starting a garden.  In fact, we didn't do much to our yard at all for the first two years we lived here besides clean up the leaves and mow the grass.

From the very first year we were here I noticed a sad looking plant all by it's lonesome on the side of the house, and decided it must be a daffodil.  I love daffodils.  They are a happy flower symbolic of hope.  Only this little plant was sad.  It never bloomed and looked so pitiful all by itself on the side of the house.  I can't even count how many times I've thought about just yanking it out and throwing it in the garbage, figuring it must be a dud... but look what it did this year!

It doubled in size and even produced some beautiful blossoms.  I'm so glad I never got around to really yanking up this happy flower.  It just needed some time to acclimate to it's surroundings, gain some strength, and grow on it's own time schedule.  Now it fits in perfectly with the few friends we've planted near by.  I hope to add more annuals to the mix in the upcoming weeks and I can only imagine it will look even more beautiful as we slowly add more perennials over the years.

I can't help but think about how much I am like this little flower.  I'm sure glad no one has yanked me out and thrown me away.  We all take time to acclimate.  And honestly we all look a little better surrounded by friends and family that help nourish and support the soil that keeps us in our place so we can grown, and bloom into something uniquely beautiful.