By Dan Weisz
It is springtime, and even though each of us has probably drastically changed our “typical” daily routines due to the Coronavirus, now we have a wonderful opportunity for some good learning and for looking anew at the world around us.
I took a picture of some springtime growth on an Aloe in our yard as it began to sprout flower stalks about a month ago. I thought the patterns, the texture, and the symbols of change were very interesting to observe.
One month later and the flower stalks progressed to where they were now flowering beginning at the bottom and moving upwards. Yellow is the color of the desert in spring and you can see brittlebush flowers in this photo. Elsewhere, yellow desert marigolds are blooming soon to be followed by the yellow flowers of the palo verdes, the mesquite trees, and the creosote bushes.
Watching this change over time made me think: What if each of us took the time to look at, I mean really look at, just one plant around each of our houses. Notice the little things about it and find where it is growing and changing right now due to Spring weather. And then go back out again tomorrow and look at the plant again. How has it changed? What do you see that is new or different? Then observe again the next day and the next day and so on. I’ll bet if each of us did that we would find a bit of calm and beauty that we hadn’t noticed before. Maybe by slowing down and looking at this one point of nature changing before our eyes, we will discover something about ourselves at the same time.
Enjoy.
Below are photos of what I believe is an Octopus Agave. A neighbor of mine has several in her yard. The photos show a progression of the flower stalk that this plant puts out after it reaches the age of about ten years.
At the base:
As the stalk begins to stretch upwards
And then the flower buds appear a bit higher up.
The flowers begin to open near the bottom of the stalk first, but each plant flowers a bit differently.
And the flowers continue to open higher and higher up on the stalk.
What’s in your world or your yard?