Tales of Traveling Plants

Traveling plant

“Hey, over here. Look at me. A traveling plant. I made it from way over there by the tree to the edge of the flower border, by the front walk.

I know. I’m impressive, aren’t I? A regular vagabond. A pilgrim. A real adventurer I am. After all, I’ve traveled nearly six or seven feet from the other plants of my ilk.

Want to know how I, a plant with roots, managed to get so far?

Well, pull up a seat, get comfortable, and I’ll tell you because we adventurous traveling plants like nothing better than to tell tales of our travels.

Actually, it’s a bit of a miracle how I made it so far, what with roots and all.

It all started with my mother plant. She’s over there by the tree. That’s where Carol planted her, years ago.

Stay-at-home mom plant

First thing that had to happen was she had to get all gussied up and attract a pollinator.  You know, like a bee or something.  Then once she got a bee to notice her, well, this is a G-rated blog so I’ll stop there and let’s just say that as her bloom faded, my mother flower produced seeds, and one of them was me, the traveling plant.

So how did I get from way over there by the tree to way over here by the front walk?  I had to get someone to carry me as a seed, that’s how.  I’m not sure if it was the wind that picked me up and carried me. That’s how some seeds get around, especially dandelions.

It could have been a more adventuresome trip by mouse. Yes, I might have hitchhiked on the foot of a mouse and had the mouse drop me off way over here.

Or maybe I fell on a leaf and then the leaf blew in the wind and landed over here by the sidewalk?

It was dark and I was a seed, so it’s hard to say.

Anyway, there are lots of ways for a seed to travel, just know I traveled, okay?

Once I was here, I had to germinate, send down some roots and send up a shoot.   Then, I had to kind of lay low and avoid attracting Carol’s attention so she wouldn’t see me, think I was a weed, and pull me out.

Ouch, I shudder to think…

Actually, as it turns out, that was sort of the easy part because Carol is kind of lazy about weeding. Unless you are a dandelion, or thistle, or henbit. She pulls those right up. But other plants, especially good looking plants like me, she tends to leave alone because as I’ve said, she’s a bit lazy about weeding.

Anyway, after I carefully avoided bringing attention to myself, I just sat there and grew. And grew. Until one spring day, this year as a matter of fact, I bloomed. Then Carol noticed me. And smiled. I guess she likes us traveling plants.

I wish I had known that, I could have worried a little less and maybe gotten bigger and gone farther, like that plant over there on the other side of the front walk.

A really adventurous traveling plant

Now that’s impressive, to travel not just to the other side of the border, but across the front walk to a whole other border. Maybe someday, my seeds will cross the great front walk and keep those other plants company?

Hey, what if those are my sisters over there?  If they are, I’m sure proud of them, carrying on the tradition of the traveling plants. Who knows how far their offspring will go, what tales they will tell?

After all, once a traveling plant crosses the front walk, there’s nothing to stop them from going all the way over to the next border… that one by the other tree…