From age 10 through age 18, I lived in a modular home in the small town of Mountain View, Wyoming. Although my parents owned the plot of land where our home was, they never did anything with it. The yard was full of rocks and the only plants that grew were hard stubbly grass and of course dandelions. I remember that some of our neighbors actually grew things in their yards. Some even had proper gardens with snow peas and flowers and I knew then how important it was to beautify the outside of your home just as you would the inside.

I did not try to persuade my parents to grow plants or flowers. Instead I went about growing my own. Please bear in mind I was only ten and my resources were limited of how and what I could grow. I knew that when the dandelions were no longer yellow and instead little puffs of white, that the things that blew off were in fact seeds. I went around and gathered up as many seeds as I could fit in my little hands. I then went about digging a hole with an old shovel and at the same time clearing out rocks near the side of the house. I couldn’t dig very far because the ground was extremely hard. I put all the seeds I gathered into a neat row in the hole I dug. I then buried them. I went into the house, got a glass of water and watered them and continued to water them daily after that.

I can not recall how long it took the seeds to sprout but I would like to say two weeks. I do remember how excited I was when I saw green poking through the dirt. For me, there are not many life experiences that compare to the excitement of helping something grow from a seed to a plant. It is magical. You start out with little fluffy seeds, you bury them, water them and before long you have brand new plants emerging from the ground. I loved my little row of dandelions. Yes, I realized this was only a “weed” but I helped these particular “weeds” grow.

Every day I would rest on my elbows and take a mental note of how much they were growing. I always made sure they were watered and they thanked me by getting bigger. After some time had gone by, I was blessed with flowers. I remember taking one of the flowers and putting it in a book so I could have it forever. I of course don’t have the book any longer but it would sure be great if I did.

As the weeks turned into months, I was quite pleased with myself. What started out as a rocky barren piece of ground in front of the house now had several dandelions growing and thriving. When winter came, they would die back but would return again in spring in larger numbers.

And now some photos from the garden. I hope you do not mind but I got a bit artistic with some of these. I thank you for reading and until next time, happy gardening!

The humble dandelion in seed.

Viola with lavender effect

Heavenly Hummingbird

Heavenly sunflower seedling

Artistic Poppy

Bright Red Yarrow