The Serendipity of Plants (or seeds that the wind throws down)

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In any case, that’s how I figure that this mystery plant made its way into the pot that used to house a lavender geranium, thrown by the wind, or brought by the birds that sometimes still come to the balcony, though I long ago gave up putting out birdseed and water because the balcony is just too small. I certainly didn’t plant it, lol. It sprouted up after the geranium died of the heat we had back in July and out of sheer curiosity I let it grow just to see what it was. It looked like a weed. I wondered if it would have flowers. It probably is a weed, but some weeds have pretty flowers. Whatever it is, it’s clearly adapted to the Texas heat, and having little money and lots of pots for plants, I just decided to let it grow. It deserved a chance. Don’t we all?

A couple of days ago, after the plant had grown tall and the leaves and stalk became a deep green, I noticed that it had flower buds. And then it happened – one of them opened to reveal a huge yellow flower looking something like a pansy (but I know it’s not a pansy) that lasted a day or so. I didn’t catch that first one, but did manage to take a picture of the second one that opened today. I wonder if they are all going to open one by one? In any case, here it is, my mystery flower and plant (I still don’t know what it is, lol, but I’m not too worried about it. If you do and would like to tell me, please do! =) )

Mystery plant with yellow flower:

My second serendipitous plant also grew from seeds, but they didn’t get into the pot by the wind, or the birds – because I put them there. Or rather, I had planted white petunias some time ago in that pot, and then during winter I had taken the plants out and left the pot bare, or so I thought. Once things warmed up (and in Houston it never really gets very cold, so “warm” is a relative term, but by May it is usually hot and muggy) I watered the pot of bare earth thinking that I needed to buy something for it, but never getting around to it, yet not wanting the sun to bake the earth into a dry hard mess. And then I noticed these three tiny green plants in the soil, and I thought even then when you could barely tell, that they were petunias. I was surprised because I didn’t realize petunias could regenerate like that, but I decided to let them grow. And to my surprise, grow they did and when they grew taller I staked them, then tied them to the railing to lift them up a little…from three little plants, the petunias grew until they filled the pot, and they are still going strong! It surprised me because while petunias are heat resistant, they need to be kept watered almost constantly, which is not something I always manage to do well. I try, but it is difficult in south Texas, especially when you’re watering by hand. In any case, here they are in all their summer glory:

I hope you enjoyed the blog, it has always been my favorite feature of Grows on You, and it does feel good to be back on the site after a two and a half year absence!