When there is too much clatter and glare,
I make myself stop and stare at one flower.
I close my mind to all else.
There are no weeds. There are no dirty dishes. No tweets. No news.
Just me and the flower.
I did this many times yesterday.
The chaos kept coming, so I kept going back to that flower.
I sat on a bench near it.
I focused on its beauty and nothing else.
Again and again. One only. Only one.
Until I had an oasis in my head.
A place of peace.
Solace.
Flower
This is Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa.
The group of milkweed plants is the only food for Monarch butterfly caterpillars.
I love these plants because they are drought tolerant and deer-resistant.
The umbels of flowers are an eye-catching orange.
My favorite feature is the symmetry of the bloom clusters along the stem.
The umbel in the center matures first. Then the adjacent clusters next and so on outwardly.
This symmetry keeps the entire stem balanced.
I find this fascinating.
Form Follows Function.
Flower
Each night there is a performance by our toads and our frogs.
It’s an amphibious contest of decibels.
The loudest group gains control of the pond.
The toads belt out flats.
While the frogs scream in sharps.
We wish they would quit all their noise and get on with their spawning.
It seems they have forgotten the reason for their calling.
They are too busy making noise to get busy in the pond.
Why can’t they quiet the raucous and form a caucus,
then quietly copulate each other?
FLOW
P.S. Amphibians use external fertilization so they do not copulate. I needed them to in this post for my own political purposes.
FLOW is low.
This is my daughter’s garden.
She chooses what grows in it.
She selects the plants and how many.
She takes care of those plants.
If weeds intrude, they are removed.
It is her garden. She decides.
Furious FLOW
The purpose of flowers is to attract a pollinator.
The prettiest and brightest get the most visits.
Some flowers also use aromas to attract a suitor.
So the eye-and-nose-candy flowers get bombarded by
creatures carrying pollen.
Then the pollen eats its way down the pistil to fertilize the eggs at the base.
The ovary ripens and enlarges.
The flower fades.
Its petals fall off. Its stem droops under the weight of the heavy ovary.
It will never be a flower again.
Now it is a big heavy fruit.
Ready for some predators to eat and hopefully poop out the seeds in a good spot.
So they can germinate and grow into little flowers.
To be pretty for a while.
Until some pollen comes and changes everything.
I may have to change my name.
I am done with the damn pollen.
FLOW
Sis and I thought we were taking a pic if eggs in a nest.
She held open the lid of the house and moved the feathers aside with a stick.
When we looked at the photos, lo and behold, mama Swallow was in there.
We were embarrassed by our bold intrusion.
We did knock first.FLOWER is a nest pest.
There is action 24/7 here at Flower’s garden.
It’s hard to get any rest.
The frogs and toads are raising a ruckus out front to all hours.
Just when they get done with their revelry,
my blue friend starts pecking the window out back
It’s hard for me to be nice with so little sleep.
I guess that’s why Ricky ran away when I tried to pet him.
Flow is too old for her wild friends.
I may go take a nap, while its quiet.
Flower
There is no privacy at our house.
The bunnies had to stay in during Saturday’s storm.
Their friend came to look in on them.
I felt bad not letting this cute little guy in out of the rain.
He left after his quick check on his two furry friends.
We have such nosy neighbors.
I may have to put up some curtains.
Flow
