Reality Bites

There might be a hiccup in my newest love affair---let me explain. After falling madly in love with previously scorned Begonias and buying them with abandon I may have gotten in over my head. I fell in love with Begonias, thinking it would only be one of those casual, summertime things. I’d love them and care for them and enjoy their beauty and then the frost would come and it would be sad but I’d move on with the next seed catalog to hit my mailbox.

Uh, no.

Seems Begonias are slightly more tenacious than that. Falling in love with Begonias isn’t just a casual summer fling; come fall Begonias are going to start making demands on my time. Just like those manipulative Dahlias.

Dahlias and I have a history. They’ll seduce me with their beauty, I’ll make certain promises in May that, come October-November, may be hard to keep. I’ll mean well---I just won’t mean it when I promise to get up off the sofa and go digging about the garden in the cold, fall rain, trying to figure out where I planted those dang Dahlia tubers and missing the Seahawks game.

 April will roll around and I will be happily turning over

Dead dahlia blooming...

garden soil, planning all my plant purchases when—stab!—I’ll stick my trowel in to a sloppy mess that USED to be a dahlia. Oh, the guilt! Oh, the shame! Oh the new promises I will swear about either 1) NEVER BUYING Dahlias AGAIN, or 2) only planting them in pots so I can either A: bring the pots inside or B: put them in the garage or C: pawn them off on a friend who has both a greenhouse AND enough self-discipline to actually follow through on the promise to dig dahlias up every fall.

Turns out Begonias can be “saved” over, it you just love them enough to get up off the sofa and go do it. I’m starting to feel like my Begonia relationship is a bit more restrictive and controlling than just a “summertime thing” ... Impatiens never asked for anything more than to just make me happy for a season. Perhaps---GASP! Begonia Love is Real Love...

Flower love is a fickle thing.