Seeing fields of wild flowers always makes me think of one of my grandmother's. She only had one leg...the other was wooden. And so i always knew her as a 'disabled' person..yet never thought of her as 'handicapped'. Grandmother was very talented...a nationally known illustrator, an accomplished musician, and one of the strongest women i've ever known.
Among her many talents was also one of hybridizing new varieties of flowers, especially iris, daffodils, jonquils, day lilies and African violets.When her flower beds became over grown, she would thin them out and put all the ones she'd culled into paper sacks. I thought she was nuts...why didn't she plant them into a new flower bed? or give them to a neighbor? Her varieties were much sought after especially by the locals...Why even cull them to begin with? All of my questions went unanswered as she would fill the sacks and have me carry them to a cool spot in the garage.
On town day (once a month for us) she would have me load the sacks into the car and we would drive the back roads that led to the highway into the city. Windows down, and inching her way, she would instruct me to throw the bulbs out the window one at a time, onto the road's side.
Today...30 years later...I drive many of those same roads and it lightens my heart to see all the flowers my gma planted. Every spring it is a delight to see them return...more abundant each year. It was years before i realized she was not throwing them away...that she was planting for the future, and in her quiet way...trying to build and contribute to her community.
~compliments to my daughter for her lovely photo and the use of.
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