Sunflowers for Daisies

March 15, 2011

Filed under Life

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A few weeks ago at Daisy Girl Scouts we earned our Rose Petal for our vests.

The ‘rose’ colored petal teaches us ‘To Make the World a Better Place”. I thought what could be better for our World than to plant a sunflower!?

Sunflowers are pretty to look at, can feed wildlife and help keep the soil clean by drawing up toxins from the earth! I thought that was just the coolest thing when I heard it! So, my thought process was that this was a great project for my girls!

They got their hands a little dirty as the dug in the earth (ok…potting soil in little containers! But we were still dirty!) and planted tiny little seeds. Within days of me taking them home they sprouted up!

Another week went by and they looked like plants! I was going to take these little guys back to the girls to show them what they planted! Their little seeds were growing! How exciting!

Sadly, I forgot to take them with me to the meeting that week, so they didn’t get to see them “2 weeks old”. Which, of course was probably for the best ~ it was cookie day at that meeting and a van loaded down with Thin Mints and Samoas doesn’t fit well with fragile flowers that need space too.

So, our little sunflowers sat for another week. It was 2 days ago when I went to water our flowers that I noticed they were starting to ‘wilt’.  😦 Oh no!! What will my Scouts think of me!? As a new Leader I’m trying my best to keep it all together with very little mistakes! Killing our sunflowers was not a move I was willing to make easily….

I rushed out to get some supplies to replant my little buds. I’m no Urban Gardener…okay, I’m not a good one. Because believe you me I try every year to grow *something* in my little Garden in the City! But my only thought is that the flowers have light, dirt and water….but maybe not enough ‘room’ in the tiny container that they started out in!

I didn’t have the time for this project yesterday, but I got right to work tonight with the help of my sweet husband!

Most had died away and withered to nothing at this point. But some were VERY strong! And had the deepest roots that I had ever seen on such little sunflowers.

I was surprised to see that some of the weaker flowers had reached out and had wrapped around the stronger flowers! I pointed this out to Nicholas and told him that this would be a cool lesson to teach our kids. That those of us who are stronger hold up the weak so that they can have a chance to live too. I was inspired by these little sunflowers! I was getting tears in my eyes thinking about the deep meaning of life and living and friendships and family when my sweet, sweet husband busted my bubble!

“No. Not really. See those weaker ones holding on? They really have a grip around the stronger ones. They’re saying, ‘Hey you Buddy! If I’m going down I’m taking this whole operation with me!’ Even the plants are trying to live the new American dream!”

Oh bother!