Nine Little Sunflowers All in a Row

June 12, 2006 cxpressions

I am so excited! My friend, Kate, loves sunflowers. One time, we were traveling in Vermont and we drove past a house where the owners had lovingly planted an entire garden of sunflowers! The car was moving at a high rate of speed so of course, we passed this vision of beauty rather quickly. Kate's passion for sunflowers though was taking control though so in order to maintain peace on our trip, I turned the car around so that she could go traipsing through private property and trample through the yard in order to get some good shots of the towering plants. I truly made her day and it definitely contributed to a happy co-existence for the next few days, however, this happened to be the trip where the film was destroyed in the airport X-ray machines. That was a not a pretty day. Immediately, Kate began making plans to go to Vermont the very next year and retrace our exact steps, take the very same pictures and have the same marvelous time! Unfortunately, the "very next year" has come and gone and become "last year" and we did not follow through on her precise plans. So, as a way to help her through her grief, I decided to plant her a sunflower garden in our yard. I spent much time toiling and suffering in the sun to dig up the dirt, plant the seeds, cover them up and water so carefully. I planted at least 20 seeds but alas, the day of reckoning only produced 6 hardy plants. I did not reveal my secret to Kate though until I was certain something was actually growing. Disappointment of that magnitude – twice in two years – would certainly destroy her so I waited until the plants got tall enough to give me confidence of their survival. Last week, I showed her the little miracles and she danced around the yard for a few seconds in sheer excitement! It really doesn't take much to make her happy… or sad. Well, the miracle didn't end as I went out there a few days later to discover that 3 other sunflower plants were growing further down the row – hidden under an overgrown tree/weed that my brother decided to pull down. So, now we have 9 wonderful plants growing closer and closer to the sun. One day they will all be standing proudly side-by-side with their yellow faces gleaming and saying "cheese!" as my friend Kate snaps away!

Entry Filed under: Garden Gossip

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to comments via RSS Feed