Looking at the Bloomers
More and more flowers are starting to rise from the weed patches at my house. Some plants were long lasting plants that were given to me many years ago and are faithful to claim their corner of what was once a flower garden. Some have spread their claim to more of the flower bed. The flags or irises have multiplied their swordlike leaves, emerging from seams in the rock piles. White, purple, and a chocolate brown blossoms have crowned several of the slender stocks.
More than thirty years ago I was given a coral bells plant by Beverly Cunningham a switchboard operator at Frick Hospital, Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. Several years back, for some reason, it didn’t bloom and I thought it had died out. Beverly had passed away and I thought I’d never get another, but the next year, it grew back strong as ever. Their small pink bell shaped flowers dangle on ong graceful stems that nod in the breeze.
In a corner of one of my flower bed are miniature irises. I’m not sure where I got them, but my Mom Sybil Miner Beck always called them “a poor man’s orchid.” The small creamy-white blooms rise on stems from a jumble of thin reed like leaves. The flowers do look very much like tiny white orchids.
Two years ago, I was given several packets of flower seeds. I scattered them in the flower bed next to my walkway to see if they would grow. One packet held seeds of Bells-of-Ireland and another packet contained forget-me-nots. Last year I didn’t see anything growing and thought, “Oh well, nothing lost.” But much to my surprise this year they have spread throughout and are blooming beautifully. The green balls of the Bells-of-Ireland almost blend into the other green plants, but there are several clusters of the pale blue forget-me-nots blossoming brightly like patches of a summer blue sky.
The columbine that I planted several years ago didn’t need any encouragement to take over territory and I have a section of purple-red columbine. They start to bloom after the jonquils and dafodils have finished their display of bright and pale yellows and the lilies-of-the-valley have almost folded all of their delicate white bells into the forest of their dark green leaves.
In mt back yard the snow ball bush is filled with their snowy white “puff balls.” The wind and rain has been plucking the blooms to spread thin drifts of blossoms across the grass beneath. The blooms disappear when I mow, but I loosen more to drift down on me as I brush past on my mower.