Living… With Marigolds and Dahlias

By Staff Reports

 With Bob Polk

It is the time of the year for many people to travel up Roan Mountain and enjoy the beautiful Rhododendron Gardens. When they are in full bloom, it is a breathtaking view. Beautiful flowers have a way of blocking out the cares of the world and allowing us to revel in God’s creation. Most of the wildflowers have already bloomed for our enjoyment, and now we are tending our flower beds with plants we have purchased locally. Hanging baskets and potted plants help to perpetuate the magic of beautiful flowers. Some mothers will remember the special floral arrangement they received on Mother’s Day. Flowers are shared and appreciated in every culture and country. I remember the stands along the roadsides in a South American country with beautiful flowers ready to be purchased and the rose farms with roses which would be shipped to the United States.

My wife has always had a special appreciation for flowers. She knows how to plant, prune and fertilize them so they will bloom beautifully. She recognizes colors and can arrange them so that they blend and enhance each other. Although I enjoy flowers, I am just a helper and not the person to design a flower bed or a window box.

Perhaps that is the reason that I am still wondering about something that I did when I was a teenage boy. I decided to raise flowers! I must have not been very successful because it did not last long and nobody in my family remembers it. I recall that there was a path from our back porch along a fence leading out to my pigeons. They were housed in what appeared like an oversize cage, and it was not very attractive. Something needed to be done about the appearance of the place. There was a small area between the path and the fence where flowers could be planted. I did not know anything about raising flowers, but I remembered that you could buy packets of flower seeds at the store for ten cents. On the back of the packets were the instructions about planting them. I chose Marigolds and Zinnias and, to my surprise, they grew and bloomed! I am still wondering where I got the bulbs for the Dahlias. I was impressed by the bright color of the Marigolds and the mixed colored Zinnias, but the Dahlias became my favorites.

When Jesus was teaching us about worry, he said, “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; … and yet I say unto you that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these … Therefore do not worry …” (Matthew 6: 28, 29, 31) Isaiah reminds us in Chapter 40, Verse 8, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.” When you are worried, look at one of God’s beautiful creations, a flower. When you want something that never fades, turn to the Bible!