Gone to seed, a new meaning…
July 19, 2009 – 8:51 am
A Four o'clock seed head
You know you’re a real tried and true gardener when you cannot pass a plant without grabbing some free seeds. Admit it. You do this in friends yards, in public gardens, on trips to beautiful places. I cannot tell you how many times I have discovered a pocket full of seeds when I’m sorting laundry and then scratch my head trying to remember what kind of flower it came from so I can stash them away for next year’s planting.
Of course, I can NEVER possibly use all of the seeds that I collect, nor guarantee that they will sprout but that never stops me from pinching them here and there as a I go through life. At any given moment you will find at least four or five plastic cups on my counter into which I add the seeds I collect on a regular basis. (The rest, I place in coin sized envelopes that I can label with the name or a small drawing of the flower.)
So as I walked around this morning, picking yet another handful of four o’clock seeds I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of their seed head. Each is a perfect package unfolded, a starburst of revelation. I could almost hear the plant shouting “Ta-Da!”
Like a mother and child is more beautiful than the young girl alone, I stood in awe of such glory. Picking the present from each package, I laughed to myself with a new found pun. Maybe this is what it really means when people say someone has “gone to seed.” It’s not really being past your prime, it’s being in the most glorious of life’s stages; the one in which you can truly offer your gifts to the universe, your own ta-da!
2 Responses to “Gone to seed, a new meaning…”
Thanks, I WAS feeling a little “seedy”this morning. Now I think maybe that’s not such a bad thing!
Beth
By Beth Smoak on Jul 19, 2009
I know exactly what you mean. I sometimes feel a little sneaky at public gardens looking around to make sure no on is watching. And like you I find them in my pocket and wonder which one I took. I don’t always think about saving some of my own seeds in time. I hope to get better this year for our Habitat Project.
By Barbara Knight on Jul 20, 2009