Ranunculus

UBC Botanical Gardens

The Generous Heart of a Little Boy

Banyan is an incredibly thoughtful boy.  He has a passion for serving people and making sure they are comfortable.  If you have ever been a guest in our house, I'm sure you have experienced Banyan's hospitality.  First he will bring out his multi-coloured ikea plastic cups and pass them around, then he brings out his Papa's special juice and pours a glass for every one.  Next, it's time to divvy up his stash of granola bars, apple sauces, throat lozenges, pickles, olives or what ever happens to be with in his reach.  Feeling cold?  No problem, Banyan will bring you a pile of blankets then jump all over you until you can't take it any more.  He will even set up the sofa bed incase your tired.  He also knows it's nice to give flowers to people.  It took a whole summer of training him not to pick every flower in sight but the flowers were very pretty and it allowed me to use every single vase in the house.  Lately, Banyan has been leaving little gifts and handing out treats to our neighbours.  This morning he got dressed, ate some banana bread and said, "see you later".  I inquired where he was going and he said he had to make a delivery of figs to the neighbours.  "Oh".  Of course he had picked the hardest, most unedible ones, so I helped him out a little.  He took the dish of freshly picked figs and banged on the neighbours' doors at 8:20am. When Banyan gets an idea, we just go with it.  If he's determined to do something with or with our our help, might as well help him do it right.  

Hollyhock Heaven

I went a little ape taking photographs of flowers on Sunday.  I probably took a hundred while walking through the Strathcona community garden.  The lighting was awesome.  The setting sun back-lit the leaves and pedals of the plants.  My favourite photos of the day were the hollyhocks.

   

They remind me of my mom who use to grow them out side of her bedroom window.  Her's were dark violet mixed with some reddish purple hues standing tall against our light green house.  I found my self more drawn to these delicate pink ones for their ethereal quality.

Flower Thief Strikes Again...

Banyan gave me this today!  It was kind of funny to see him show up at the door holding such a huge purple pompom in the palm of his tiny little hand.  He was wearing his florescent green 3-D chalk glasses which made it even more comical.  

Of course there is no stem.... he just pick the head right off.  I don't even know where he got it from..... Soooo I would like to apologize to any neighbour that might be missing one of these!

...but I absolutely love it!

Petunias

My little boy has been at it again, filling my vase full of fresh flowers.

He found these Petunias lying on the road in front of our house.  

We were on our way out but he insisted that we put them in water right away.  

So we went back inside and found a place for them.  

It turns out they had fallen off a hanging basket that our neighbour  just brought home.  

Looking at them everyday makes me happy.  

Thank you to our neighbours for the free flowers :)

The Daffodil Thief

Little B has been the sweetest little boy when it comes to flowers.  He has been thoughtfully picking other people's daffodils and giving them to me.  What can a mother do?  I love them and have been finding little glass vases to put them in.  I do my best to let him know that picking other people's flowers isn't right but it is a hard concept for him to grasp.  He just knows that his mama loves flowers.  So adorable.  He usually gives me a big hug when he gives them to me too.  

One day we happened to be in a bank sorting out our mortgage details when a big bundle of unopened sickly looking daffodils were dropped off at the banker's desk.  She noticed Banyan's interest and immediately handed us two bunches to take with us.  I didn't think they would amount to much because the looked pitiful.  Banyan and I took turns carrying them and waving them around for the next few.  The eventually ended up in a grocery bag by the time we got home.  I cut the ends off and stuck them in a vase not expecting them to turn into such a beautiful bunch of flowers!  Banyan and I ate all our meals together looking at them and talking about them.  They really cheered up the new place which is still full of boxes!  I was sad to see them withered and droopy this morning realizing their time had come to an end.  Such is life.