Enchanting Flowers

I love flowers and despite my lack of luck in growing things, I plant flowers every year. This year I am trying sunflowers from seeds. So far the seedlings are doing well. I also bought some dianthus and marigolds. I planted them this week. The weather was nearly perfect and it was nice to wield a trowel in the sunshine. Of course, it will be wonderful if I get lots and lots of flowers, but I'm a realist and I expect that some of the local critters will eat my flowers. Also, if we get a very dry summer and I don't water the flowers enough, the plants may not survive.

I am an optimist though, and occasionally I have enough flowers to cut and arrange in a vase. That makes all the work of cultivating seem worthwhile. So when I see a field of flowers that nobody planted, it seems like a miracle to me.

Today hubby and I went for a walk along one of my favorite trails which winds down into a wide ravine. At the bottom is a very swampy area. Most of the trees in the woods are tulip trees, which are incredibly tall and majestic.

Only a month ago, the trail was still gray and barren, though I could see signs of spring in the fiddleheads, the skunk cabbage, and the periwinkles. Today, I was greeted with the sight of lavender and white phlox. Not just a few phlox. A whole field of them! And I forgot to bring my camera along. :^(

It was an enchanting sight and brought to mind fables of fairies and other magical creatures. I think I will have to put it in a book somewhere.