Stop and See

What do you see?  Something beautiful, I hope.  That's what I see.
Yet only one of these flowers came from my garden.  The alstromerias...those are the bigger peachy striped ones in the middle.

Even those are growing underneath the banksia rose, wedged behind another plant, in a tiny strip of ground beside our driveway.  I didn't even realise they were there until at least a year after we moved in.  I'm wondering if I should move them elsewhere. Somewhere they will get sun and attention.  But I'm worried that might kill them!  They seem to be doing quite well on neglect.

All the others in this lovely bunch of flowers, I picked on a walk one day down our boardwalk.  There's manuka.  It doesn't last long in a vase but I just couldn't resist the small white flowers.  Then the deep purple weeds we get around here - I don't even know what they are called but when you get a whole deep purple drift of them, it's an amazing sight.  They can grow as tall as I am and love to populate gravelly, abandoned ground.  Then there's the white ones and the yellow ones.  Some flowering fennel or wild parsnip and some ragwort?  I'm not really sure, but I thought they were pretty and I wanted a change so they came home with me.

Isn't it amazing?  Here in a vase, they look incredibly beautiful.  Yet I walk past them almost every day, and see only weeds.  But what makes them weeds?  They ability to survive, and thrive in a hostile environment?  That we want to pull them out to make room for more conforming plants?  I'm always amazed at the beauty that is tucked all around us, into every aspect and facet of the natural world.  We spend our whole lives in it, yet so often miss it.

I hope you have a day filled with beauty.  Beauty seen and found and felt.
Amy