Flowers Grow Right Through the Cracks

I  was listening  to NPR this morning driving into work.  They were interviewing Katy Perry about her latest album, “Smile.” As the interview was ending, a clip of her song, “Resilient,” came on with these lyrics,

I am resilient, born to be brilliant

You’ll see me grow right through the cracks, yeah

‘Cause you’re gonna watch this flower grow right through the cracks

We’ve all seen those photos of ugly canvases of grey concrete and asphalt with that one brightly colored flower somehow growing out of a crack from the middle of nothingness. I think this is one of the reasons flowers always brighten someone’s day. Among a flower’s many wonderful qualities, they are so resilient that flowers grow right through the cracks!

Mint growing under our shop’s front door

Another testament to flower resiliency is in my pollinator garden at home. A couple of springs ago I sprinkled a package of wildflower seeds over part of the garden. Because I had no idea what seeds were in the mix, I downloaded an app for my phone called Picture This. The app identifies a plant using a photo of a leaf or flower. Using the app, I was able to distinguish flower seedlings from weed seedlings.

My pollinator garden is well-established now so I know what flowers will re-emerge each year. When weeds do come up, I quickly pull them. A couple of weeks ago, a plant started to come up that didn’t look like a weed so I took a photo of it. Picture This identified the random plant as a Peruvian Zinnia. As part of that initial sprinkling of wildflowers, the zinnias came up the first year. I haven’t seen any since until this year and not until the summer was almost over! Talk about resilient!

2020, especially, is a year that we all need an extra dose of good vibes. Flowers are the perfect way to deliver joy and resiliency to family and friends. Not only do they epitomize resiliency themselves, according to studies, flowers bring positivity and productivity to both men and women. So don’t forget the men in your lives! As Katy Perry sings, ” Won’t let the concrete hold me back, oh no…’cause you’re gonna watch this flower grow right through the cracks.”