Something Good
What’s Blooming Today?
Several years ago, I started feeding the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks sunflower seeds. I had no idea they were planting a sunflower garden for me.
Now, one of my favorite parts of summer is discovering where they decided to plant my sunflowers. They always seem to know exactly where a sunflower belongs. No two years look exactly alike, and I’m always surprised by what pops up.
This year, I decided to join them.
I planted a few special sunflower varieties, hoping for some new colors and shapes mixed in with my volunteer garden. Every day I head out to see if another one has bloomed. A few are getting close, and I can’t wait to see what color greets me next.
Over the years, my flower gardens have turned my yard into one of my favorite places to be.
I like making my rounds through the yard to see what’s new. Sometimes I’ll pick a handful of fresh strawberries for my morning bagel or snip some basil for a Caprese salad with fresh tomatoes from my vegetable garden. Then I check to see which flowers decided to bloom today and whether one of the new sunflower varieties is finally showing its colors.
My mom divided a few hollyhocks she had gotten from my great-grandma’s flower gardens and gave me some to plant in my yard. What neither of us realized was just how many seeds hollyhocks produce. Now I find new volunteers popping up where I never planted them.
Sometimes I take a moment to notice a fuzzy little bumblebee nestled inside a hollyhock, a butterfly fluttering among the flowers, or a goldfinch hanging upside down on a sunflower, doing acrobatics while grabbing a snack. Those are some of my favorite moments. Maybe it’s the explosion of color. Maybe it’s seeing what bloomed overnight. Or maybe it’s knowing my gardens aren’t just beautiful—they’re useful. They’re providing food for bees, butterflies, birds, and other pollinators. It’s my own little way of contributing to something bigger than myself.
The more time I spend in my gardens, the more I realize they have a lot in common with life.
Some surprises become the most beautiful part of the garden. Some plants need thinned so the strongest ones have room to grow. Some flowers finish their season, and it’s time to deadhead them so they’ll bloom again. If you ignore the weeds for too long, they’ll slowly crowd out everything else.
Life needs tending, too. Not because it’s broken.
Because the things we want to grow—our relationships, our health, our dreams, our faith, our peace—need our attention. Sometimes we have to make room for them. Sometimes we have to pull a few weeds. And sometimes we have to let go of what’s no longer serving us so something better has room to grow.
So…what will you notice blooming today?
It’s too hot to walk the dogs, so they’ll enjoy a truck ride instead. I also spotted a ripe red tomato…which means there’s a pretty good chance we’re having BLTs for dinner.
Anyway…off we go 
© Erica Shoemaker
