Dreaming of Gold!

  Have you ever wondered just why some things are better than others?  Perhaps not "better" in the sense that one outdoes the other but "better" because they are favorites.  Take for instance, marigolds and chrysanthemums.  The mums seem to far outweigh marigolds when it comes to choosing flowers to fill a fall garden.  The stores are filled with the potted plants that are simply covered with buds all waiting to burst forth with an explosion of color.  Or not.  Mark bought me four chrysanthemums earlier this month.  They were nice, healthy plants that sported about ten thousand buds.  I was excited to have them as I love flowers.  Things did not go so well with the mums as nary a bud opened into a bloom.  The buds stayed as little hard knots until finally the plants just gave up hope.  Three of the mum plants promptly died. One lives on but still has not had the strength to push any petals out of those tight buds.  I am disappointed to say the least.  He was so sweet to think of me by buying the plants and to have them wither and wilt was a most horrible feeling.

  Fast forward until today.  In the garden, there are some die-hard marigolds.  These are volunteer plants that come up year after year. Long ago, I had bought a packet of seeds from the local dollar store. Thinking that they probably were old seeds, I dumped the entire packet into one garden and promptly forgot about them.  I mean, my goodness, the whole box of seeds was a buck and there were most likely five thousand seeds in there!  Needless to say, the seeds sprouted, grew, bloomed and made more seeds.  I picked seeds.  Thousands upon thousands of seeds were dried and stored.  Gallons and gallons of seeds.  Geez!  Those things did not give up easily!  Winter came and the long lives of the marigolds soon ended.  I was not too worried as I had seeds!  Tons of seeds!  I would just replant in the spring.  Nope. I did not need to replant.  Seeds that were dropped sprouted in every nook and cranny of the garden.  I was happy but confused as to what to do with about four gallons of seeds.  I gave them to everyone who would take any.  

  That was years ago.  I still have two gallon bags of seeds in my seed bin.  There is no need to ever replant.  Marigolds just keep sprouting and keep blooming and keep making seeds.  Now, I have a mixture of colors and types but they still fill the gardens with their delightful golden blooms.  (And I keep picking seeds each year as this helps them to keep blooming.)

  So, what makes those chrysanthemums any better than my marigolds?  I guess it is all about that elusive splash of color that they would bring.  Marigolds are just that...gold.  Chrysanthemums come in a range of colors that rival the rainbow.  For those who love a variety of hues...go for it.  I will stick with my marigolds.  They do all the work by themselves!