My Favorite Color

Cardinal Flower

Usually I just let these photos speak for themselves but there is a story behind this one. I have always loved cardinal flowers and found what I thought was the perfect spot for one when we moved to our new house. The backyard gets wetter as the tiers get closer to the pond and cardinal flowers love moist earth so I planted one. It didn't grow much the first year--as a matter of fact, it didn't grow at all, but it didn't die. It just sat there all summer but somehow over the winter it gave up and I declared it dead in the spring. 

While visiting a local plant farm, I could not resist the cardinal flower again. But when I got home and looked around, my original choice still looked like the best spot. So I decided not to learn from experience and planted it right there. What seemed to be a foolish decision was rewarded with a plant that grew two feet high and produced three catch-your-eye flower heads that give focus to all the wild vegetation around them. 

If something doesn't work out the first time, that alone does not mean it will not work if you try again. This will be helpful as I embark on yet another new experiment in fiber.